Organizational Behavior; —

Personality

NEW SUBTOPIC: PERSONALITY

Definition of personality
Personality means how a person affects others and how he
understands and views himself as well as the pattern of inner and outer
measurable traits and the person-situation interactions (Fred
Luthans). According to Stephen P. Robbins, personality is the sum
total ways in which an individual reacts and interacts with others. It
may be defined as those inner psychological characteristics that both
determine and reflect how a person responds to his environment.

Personality can be defined as those inner psychological

characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person
responds to the environment.

The word personality is derived from a Greek word “persona” which

means “to speak through.” Personality is the combination of
characteristics or qualities that forms a person’s unique identity. It
signifies the role which a person plays in public. Every individual has a
unique, personal and major determinant of his behavior that defines
his/her personality.

Personality trait is basically influenced by two major features −

 Inherited characteristics

 Learned characteristics

Inherited Characteristics
The features an individual acquires from their parents or forefathers,
in other words the gifted features an individual possesses by birth is
considered as inherited characteristics. It consists of the following
features −

 Color of a person’s eye

 Religion/Race of a person

 Shape of the nose

 Shape of earlobes

Learned Characteristics
Nobody learns everything by birth. First, our school is our home, then
our society, followed by educational institutes. The characteristics an
individual acquires by observing, practicing, and learning from others
and the surroundings is known as learned characteristics.

Learned characteristics includes the following features −

 Perception − Result of different senses like feeling, hearing etc.

 Values − Influences perception of a situation, decision making

process.

 Personality − Patterns of thinking, feeling, understanding and

behaving.

 Attitude − Positive or negative attitude like expressing one’s

thought.

Traits of Personality
Personality traits are the enduring features that define an individual’s
behavior. A personality trait is a unique feature in an individual.
Psychologists resolved that there are five major personality traits and
every individual can be categor7ized into at least one of them. These
five personality traits are −

 Extrovert

 Neurotic

 Open
 Agreeable

 Conscientious

Determinants of Personality
Several factors influence the shaping of our personality. Major among
these are

1. Heredity,

2. Culture,

3. Family Background,

4. Our Experiences through Life,

5. And The People we interact with.

TYPES OF PERSONALITY BY ISABEL MYERS

The Myers-Briggs personality test breaks down the 16 personality types into two
groups: introverts and extroverts. The introverts can be categorized as ISTJ, ISTP, ISFJ, ISFP,
INTJ, INTP, INFJ, and INFP. The extroverts can be categorized as: ESTJ, ESTP, ESFJ, ESFP,
ENTJ, ENTP, ENFJ, and ENFP.
The Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is a self-report inventory designed to identify a
person's personality type, strengths, and preferences. The questionnaire was developed by Isabel
Myers and her mother Katherine Briggs based on their work with Carl Jung's theory of
personality types. Today, the MBTI inventory is one of the world's most widely used
psychological instruments.
This article discusses how the Myers-Briggs types were created, what the 16 different MBTI
types are, and how this personality typing system works.
The Development of the Myers-Briggs Test
Both Myers and Briggs were fascinated by Jung's theory of psychological types and recognized
that the theory could have real-world applications. During World War II, they began researching
and developing an indicator that could be utilized to help understand individual differences. 1
By helping people understand themselves, Myers and Briggs believed that they could help
people select occupations that were best suited to their personality types and lead healthier,
happier lives.
Myers created the first pen-and-pencil version of the inventory during the 1940s, and the two
women began testing the assessment on friends and family. They continued to fully develop the
instrument over the next two decades.2
An Overview of the Test
Based on the answers to the questions on the inventory, people are identified as having one of 16
personality types. The goal of the MBTI is to allow respondents to further explore and
understand their own personalities including their likes, dislikes, strengths, weaknesses, possible
career preferences, and compatibility with other people.
No one personality type is "best" or "better" than another. It isn't a tool designed to look for
dysfunction or abnormality. Instead, its goal is simply to help you learn more about yourself.
The questionnaire itself is made up of four different scales.
Extraversion (E) – Introversion (I)
The extraversion-introversion dichotomy was first explored by Jung in his theory of personality
types as a way to describe how people respond and interact with the world around them. While
these terms are familiar to most people, the way in which they are used in the MBTI differs
somewhat from their popular usage.
Extraverts (also often spelled extroverts) are "outward-turning" and tend to be action-oriented,
enjoy more frequent social interaction, and feel energized after spending time with other people.
Introverts are "inward-turning" and tend to be thought-oriented, enjoy deep and meaningful
social interactions, and feel recharged after spending time alone.
We all exhibit extraversion and introversion to some degree, but most of us tend to have an
overall preference for one or the other.
Sensing (S) – Intuition (N)
This scale involves looking at how people gather information from the world around them. Just
like with extraversion and introversion, all people spend some time sensing and intuiting
depending on the situation. According to the MBTI, people tend to be dominant in one area or
the other.
People who prefer sensing tend to pay a great deal of attention to reality, particularly to what
they can learn from their own senses. They tend to focus on facts and details and enjoy getting
hands-on experience. Those who prefer intuition pay more attention to things like patterns and
impressions. They enjoy thinking about possibilities, imagining the future, and abstract theories.
Thinking (T) – Feeling (F)
This scale focuses on how people make decisions based on the information that they gathered
from their sensing or intuition functions. People who prefer thinking place a greater emphasis on
facts and objective data.
They tend to be consistent, logical, and impersonal when weighing a decision. Those who prefer
feeling are more likely to consider people and emotions when arriving at a conclusion.
Judging (J) – Perceiving (P)
The final scale involves how people tend to deal with the outside world. Those who lean toward
judging prefer structure and firm decisions. People who lean toward perceiving are more open,
flexible, and adaptable. These two tendencies interact with the other scales.
Remember, all people at least spend some time engaged in extraverted activities. The judging-
perceiving scale helps describe whether you behave like an extravert when you are taking in new
information (sensing and intuiting) or when you are making decisions (thinking and feeling).
The Myers Briggs Types
Each type is then listed by its four-letter code:
 ISTJ - The Inspector: Reserved and practical, they tend to be loyal, orderly, and
traditional.
 ISTP - The Crafter: Highly independent, they enjoy new experiences that provide first-
hand learning.
 ISFJ - The Protector: Warm-hearted and dedicated, they are always ready to protect the
people they care about.
 ISFP - The Artist: Easy-going and flexible, they tend to be reserved and artistic.
 INFJ - The Advocate: Creative and analytical, they are considered one of the rarest
Myers-Briggs types.3
 INFP - The Mediator: Idealistic with high values, they strive to make the world a better
place.
 INTJ - The Architect: High logical, they are both very creative and analytical.4
 INTP - The Thinker: Quiet and introverted, they are known for having a rich inner world.
 ESTP - The Persuader: Out-going and dramatic, they enjoy spending time with others and
focusing on the here-and-now.
 ESTJ - The Director: Assertive and rule-oriented, they have high principles and a
tendency to take charge.
 ESFP - The Performer: Outgoing and spontaneous, they enjoy taking center stage.
  ESFJ - The Caregiver: Soft-hearted and outgoing, they tend to believe the best about
other people.
 ENFP - The Champion: Charismatic and energetic, they enjoy situations where they can
put their creativity to work.
 ENFJ - The Giver: Loyal and sensitive, they are known for being understanding and
generous.
 ENTP - The Debater: Highly inventive, they love being surrounded by ideas and tend to
start many projects (but may struggle to finish them).
 ENTJ - The Commander: Outspoken and confident, they are great at making plans and
organizing projects.
Taking the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator can provide a lot of insight into your personality, which
is probably why the instrument has become so popular. Even without taking the formal
questionnaire, you can probably immediately recognize some of these tendencies in yourself.
According to the Myers & Briggs Foundation, it is important to remember that all types are equal
and that every type has value.
When working in group situations in school or at work, for example, recognizing your own
strengths and understanding the strengths of others can be very helpful. When you are working
toward completing a project with other members of a group, you might realize that certain
members of the group are skilled and talented at performing particular actions. By recognizing
these differences, the group can better assign tasks and work together on achieving their goals.
How MBTI Differs From Other Instruments
The MBTI is just one approach to personality typing. Personality typing refers to systems that
categorize people based on their traits, tendencies, and other characteristics. Other popular types
of personality tests include:
 The Enneagram
 The Five Love Languages
 The Big Five Personality Assessment
 The Workplace DISC Test
 Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire
However, the Myers-Briggs types differ in some important ways. First, the MBTI is not really a
"test." There are no right or wrong answers, and one type is not better than any other type. The
purpose of the indicator is not to evaluate mental health or offer any type of diagnosis.
Also, unlike many other psychological evaluations, your results are not compared against any
norms. Instead of looking at your score in comparison to other people's results, the instrument's
goal is to simply offer further information about your unique personality.
Reliability and Validity
According to the Myers & Briggs Foundation, the MBTI meets accepted standards
of reliability and validity. The official website for the test suggests that it has a 90% accuracy
and test-retest reliability rating. One study found that while the scale showed strong internal
consistency and test-retest reliability, variations were observed. 5

Other studies indicate that the reliability and validity of the instrument have not been adequately
demonstrated. For example, some research suggests that around many people get differing results
when they later retake the test and the test is not a good predictor of success in different careers. 6
Recap
While the MBTI remains a popular assessment, there is not enough evidence for its scientific
validity to recommend using it as a personality or career guidance tool.
The MBTI Today
Because the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator is relatively easy to use, it has become one
of the most popular psychological instruments currently in use today. Approximately two million
U.S. adults complete the inventory each year.
While there are many versions of the MBTI available online, it should be noted that any of the
informal questionnaires that you may find on the Internet are only approximations of the real
thing.
The real MBTI must be administered by a trained and qualified practitioner that includes a
follow-up of the results. Today, the questionnaire can be administered online via the instrument
publisher, CPP, Inc., and includes receiving a professional interpretation of your results.
The current version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator includes 93 forced-choice questions in
the North American version and 88 forced-choice questions in the European version. For each
question, there are two different options from which the respondent must choose.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT BY SIGMUND FREUD

SIGMUND
FREUD
(PSYCHOANALYTIC
THEORY)
It is no exaggeration to say that
personality theory has been
influenced more by Sigmund
Freud
than by anyone else. His system
of psychoanalysis was the first
formal theory of personality
and is still the best known.
Psychoanalysis Sigmund
Freud’s theory of personality
and system
of therapy for treating mental
disorders.
Freud's attack upon the
traditional psychology of
consciousness came from quite
a different
direction. He likened the
mind to an iceberg in which
the smaller part showing
above the
surface of the water represents
the region of consciousness
while the much larger mass
below
the water level represents the
region of unconsciousness. In
this vast domain of the un-
conscious are to be found the
urges, the passions, the
repressed ideas and feelings a
great
underworld of vital, unseen
forces which exercise an
imperious control over the
conscious
thoughts and deeds of man.
From this point of view, a
psychology which limits itself
to the
analysis of consciousness is
wholly inadequate for
understanding the underlying
motives of
man's behaviour.
SIGMUND FREUD
(PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY)
It is no exaggeration to say that personality theory has been influenced more by Sigmund Freud
than by anyone else. His system of psychoanalysis was the first formal theory of personality and
is still the best known. Psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud’s theory of personality and system of
therapy for treating mental disorders.
Freud's attack upon the traditional psychology of consciousness came from quite a different
direction. He likened the mind to an iceberg in which the smaller part showing above
the surface of the water represents the region of consciousness while the much larger mass below
the water level represents the region of unconsciousness. In this vast domain of the un-
conscious are to be found the urges, the passions, the repressed ideas and feelings a
great underworld of vital, unseen forces which exercise an imperious control over the
conscious thoughts and deeds of man. From this point of view, a psychology which limits itself
to the analysis of consciousness is wholly inadequate for understanding the underlying motives
of man's behaviour.

For over forty years, Freud explored the unconscious by the method of free association and
developed what is generally regarded as the first comprehensive theory of personality. He
mapped the contours of its topography, penetrated to the headwaters of its stream of energy, and
charted the lawful course of its growth. By performing these incredible feats, he became one of
the most controversial and influential figures in modern times.
THE STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
The personality is made up of three major systems, the id, the ego, and the superego. Although
each of these provinces of the total personality has its own functions, properties, components,
operating principles, dynamisms, and mechanisms, they interact so closely with one another that
it is difficult if not impossible to disentangle their effects and weigh their relative
contribution to man's behavior. Behavior is nearly always the product of an interaction among
these three systems; rarely does one system operate to the exclusion of the other two. The Id. At
the core of personality and completely unconscious is the psychical region called the id, a term
derived from the impersonal pronoun meaning “the it,” or the not-yet owned component of
personality. The id is the original system of the personality; it is the matrix within which the
ego and the superego become differentiated. The id consists of everything psychological
that is inherited and that is present at birth, including the instincts. It is the reservoir of
psychic energy and A furnishes all of the power for the operation of the other two systems. It is
in close touch with the bodily processes from which it derives its energy. Freud called the id
the "true psychic reality" because it represents the inner world of subjective experience
and has no knowledge of objective reality. The id cannot tolerate increases of energy which are
experienced as uncomfortable states of tension. Consequently, when the tension level of the
organism is raised, either as a result of external stimulation or of internally produced excitations,
the id functions in such a manner as to discharge the tension immediately and return the
organism to a comfortably constant and low energy level. This principle of tension reduction by
which the id operates is called the pleasure principle. The id strives for immediate satisfaction of
its needs and does not tolerate delay or postponement of satisfaction for any reason. It knows
only instant gratification. In order to accomplish its aim of avoiding pain and obtaining
pleasure, the id has at its command two processes. These are reflex action and the primary
process. Reflex actions are inborn and automatic reactions like sneezing and blinking; they
usually reduce tension immediately. The organism is equipped with a number of such
reflexes for dealing with relatively simple forms of excitation. The primary process
involves a somewhat more complicated psychological reaction. It attempts to discharge tension
by forming an image of an object that will remove the tension. The id has no awareness of
reality. We might compare the id to a newborn baby who cries and frantically waves its legs and
arms when its needs are not met but who has no knowledge of how to bring about satisfaction.
Hungry infants cannot find food on their own. The only ways the id can attempt to satisfy its
needs are through reflex action and wish-fulfilling hallucinatory or fantasy experience, which
Freud labeled primary-process thought. The Ego The ego, or I, is the only region of the mind in
contact with reality. It grows out of the id during infancy and becomes a person’s sole source of
communication with the external world. It is governed by the reality principle, which it
tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id. The ego is said to obey the reality
principle and to operate by means of the secondary process. The aim of the reality principle is to
prevent the discharge of tension until an object which is appropriate for the satisfaction of the
need has been discovered. The reality principle suspends the pleasure principle temporarily
because the pleasure principle is eventually served when the needed object is found and the
tension is thereby reduced. The reality principle asks in effect whether an experience is true or
false, that is, whether it has external existence or not, while the pleasure principle is only
interested in whether the experience is painful or pleasurable. The secondary process is realistic
thinking. By means of the secondary process the ego formulates a plan for the satisfaction of the
need and then tests this plan, usually by some kind of action, in order to see whether or not it will
work. The hungry person thinks where he may find food and then proceeds to look in that place.
This is called reality testing. In order to perform its role efficiently the ego has control over all
the cognitive and intellectual functions; these higher mental processes are placed at the service of
the secondary process. The ego is said to be the executive of the personality because it controls
the gateways to action, selects the features of the environment to which it will respond, and
decides what instincts will be satisfied and in what manner. In performing these highly important
executive functions, the ego has to try to integrate the often-conflicting demands of the id, the
superego, and the external world. This is not an easy task and often places a great strain upon the
ego. It should be kept in mind, however, that the ego is the organized portion of the id, that it
comes into existence in order to forward the aims of the id and not to frustrate them, and that all
of its power is derived from the id. It has no existence apart from the id, and it never becomes
completely independent of the id. Its principal role is to mediate between the instinctual
requirements of the organism and the conditions of the surrounding environment; its
superordinate objectives are to maintain the life of the individual and to see that the species is
reproduced.

The Superego. The third and last system of personality to be developed is the
superego(a powerful and largely unconscious set of dictates or beliefs). It is the internal
representative of the traditional values and ideals of society as interpreted to the child by his
parents, and enforced by means of a system of rewards and punishments imposed upon the child.
The superego is the moral arm of personality; it represents the ideal rather than the real and it
strives for perfection rather than pleasure. Its main concern is to decide whether something is
right or wrong so that it can act in accordance with the moral standards authorized by the agents
of society. The superego as the internalized moral arbiter of conduct develops in response to the
rewards and punishments meted out by the parents. To obtain the rewards and avoid the
punishments, the child learns to guide his behavior along the lines laid down by the parents.
Whatever they say is improper and punish him for doing tends to become incorporated into his
conscience which is one of the two subsystems of the superego. Whatever they approve of and
reward him for doing tends to become incorporated into his ego-ideal which is the other
subsystem of the superego. The mechanism by which this incorporation takes place is called
introjection. The conscience punishes the person by making him feel guilty, the ego-ideal
rewards the person by making him feel proud of himself. With the formation of the
superego, self-control is substituted for parental control. The main functions of the superego are
(1) to inhibit the impulses of the id, particularly those of a sexual or aggressive nature, since
these are the impulses whose expression is most highly condemned by society, (2) to persuade
the ego to stubstitute moralistic goals for realistic ones, and (3) to strive for perfection. That is,
the superego is inclined to oppose both the id and the ego, and to make the world over into its
own image. Levels of Mental Life To Freud, mental life is divided into two levels, the
unconscious and the conscious. The unconscious, in turn, has two different levels, the
unconscious proper and the preconscious. Unconscious The unconscious contains all those
drives, urges, or instincts that are beyond our awareness but that nevertheless motivate most of
our words, feelings, and actions. Although we may be conscious of our overt behaviors, we
often are not aware of the mental processes that lie behind them. To Freud the unconscious is the
explanation for the meaning behind dreams, slips of the tongue, and certain kinds of forgetting,
called repression. Dreams serve as a particularly rich source of unconscious material.
Unconscious processes often enter into consciousness but only after being disguised or distorted
enough to elude censorship. To enter the conscious level of the mind, these unconscious images
first must be sufficiently disguised to slip past the primary censor, and then they must elude a
final censor that watches the passageway between the preconscious and the conscious
Punishment and suppression often create feelings of anxiety, and the anxiety in turn stimulates
repression, that is, the forcing of unwanted, anxiety-ridden experiences into the unconscious as a
defense against the pain of that anxiety. Freud called inherited unconscious images our
phylogenetic endowment. Preconscious The preconscious level of the mind contains all those
elements that are not conscious but can become conscious either quite readily or with some
difficulty. The contents of the preconscious come from two sources, the first of which is
conscious perception. What a person perceives is conscious for only a transitory period; it
quickly passes into the preconscious when the focus of attention shifts to another idea. These
ideas that alternate easily between being conscious and preconscious are largely free from
anxiety and in reality are much more similar to the conscious images than to unconscious
urges. The second source of preconscious images is the unconscious. Freud believed that ideas
can slip past the vigilant censor and enter into the preconscious in a disguised form. Some of
these images never become conscious because if we recognized them as derivatives of
the unconscious, we would experience increased levels of anxiety, which would activate the final
censor to repress these anxiety-loaded images, forcing them back into the unconscious. Other
images from the unconscious do gain admission to consciousness, but only because their true
nature is cleverly disguised through the dream process, a slip of the tongue, or an elaborate
defensive measure. Conscious Consciousness, which plays a relatively minor role in
psychoanalytic theory, can be defined as those mental elements in awareness at any given point
in time. It is the only level of mental life directly available to us. Ideas can reach consciousness
from two different directions. The first is from the perceptual conscious system, which is turned
toward the outer world and acts as a medium for the perception of external stimuli. In other
words, what we perceive through our sense organs, if not too threatening, enters into
consciousness. The second source of conscious elements is from within the mental structure
and includes nonthreatening ideas from the preconscious as well as menacing but well-
disguised images from the unconscious. Dynamics of Personality Freud postulated a dynamic, or
motivational principle, to explain the driving forces behind people’s actions. To Freud, people
are motivated to seek pleasure and to reduce tension and anxiety. This motivation is derived from
psychical and physical energy that springs from their basic drives. Drives Freud used the German
word Trieb to refer to a drive or a stimulus within the person. Freud’s official translators
rendered this term as instinct, but more accurately the word should be “drive” or
“impulse.” Drives operate as a constant motivational force. As an internal stimulus, drives differ
from external stimuli in that they cannot be avoided through flight. According to Freud, the
various drives can all be grouped under two major headings: sex or Eros and aggression,
distraction, or Thanatos. These drives originate in the id, but they come under the control of the
ego. Each drive has its own form of psychic energy: Freud used the word libido for the sex drive,
but energy from the aggressive drive remains nameless. Every basic drive is characterized by an
impetus, a source, an aim, and an object. A drive’s impetus is the amount of force it exerts;
its source is the region of the body in a state of excitation or tension; its aim is to seek
pleasure by removing that excitation or reducing the tension; and its object is the person or thing
that serves as the means through which the aim is satisfied.

Sex – (life instinct) The aim of the sexual drive is pleasure, but this pleasure is not limited to
genital satisfaction. Freud believed that the entire body is invested with libido. The libido can be
attached to or invested in objects, a concept Freud called cathexis. Besides the genitals, the
mouth and anus are especially capable of producing sexual pleasure and are called
erogenous zones. The ultimate aim of the sexual drive cannot be changed, but the path by which
the aim is reached can be varied. It can take either an active or a passive form, or it can
be temporarily or permanently inhibited. Because the path is flexible and because sexual
pleasure stems from organs other than the genitals, much behavior originally motivated by
Eros is difficult to recognize as sexual behavior. To Freud, however, all pleasurable activity is
traceable to the sexual drive. Infants are primarily self-centered, with their libido invested almost
exclusively on their own ego. This condition, which is universal, is known as primary narcissism.
As the ego develops, children usually give up much of their primary narcissism and develop a
greater interest in other people. In Freud’s language, narcissistic libido is then transformed
into object libido. During puberty, however, adolescents often redirect their libido back to the
ego and become preoccupied with personal appearance and other self-interests. This
pronounced secondary narcissism is not universal, but a moderate degree of self-love is common
to nearly everyone. A second manifestation of Eros is love, which develops when people invest
their libido on an object or person other than themselves. Children’s first sexual interest is the
person who cares for them, generally the mother. During infancy children of either sex
experience sexual love for the mother. Overt sexual love for members of one’s family,
however, ordinarily is repressed, which brings a second type of love into existence. Freud
called this second kind of love aim-inhibited because the original aim of reducing sexual tension
is inhibited or repressed. The kind of love people feel for their siblings or parents is generally
aim-inhibited. Two other drives that are also intertwined are sadism and masochism. Sadism is
the need for sexual pleasure by inflicting pain or humiliation on another person. Masochism, like
sadism, is a common need, but it becomes a perversion when Eros becomes subservient
to the destructive drive. Masochists experience sexual pleasure from suffering pain and
humiliation inflicted either by themselves or by others. Because masochists can provide self-
inflicted pain, they do not depend on another person for the satisfaction of masochistic needs.
Aggression-( death instinct) The aim of the destructive drive, according to Freud, is to return the
organism to an inorganic state. Because the ultimate inorganic condition is death, the final aim of
the aggressive drive is self-destruction. As with the sexual drive, aggression is flexible and
can take a number of forms, such as teasing, gossip, sarcasm, humiliation, humor, and
the enjoyment of other people’s suffering. The aggressive tendency is present in everyone and
is the explanation for wars, atrocities, and religious persecution. Freud believed, to inhibit the
strong, though usually unconscious, drive to inflict injury on others. These precepts are
actually reaction formations. They involve the repression of strong hostile impulses and the overt
and obvious expression of the opposite tendency.

Throughout our lifetime, life and death impulses constantly struggle against one another for
ascendancy, but at the same time, both must bow to the reality principle, which represents the
claims of the outer world. These demands of the real world prevent a direct, covert, and
unopposed fulfillment of either sex or aggression. They frequently create anxiety, which
relegates many sexual and aggressive desires to the realm of the unconscious. Anxiety Sex and
aggression share the center of Freudian dynamic theory with the concept of anxiety. In defining
anxiety, Freud emphasized that it is a felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical
sensation that warns the person against impending danger. The unpleasantness is often vague and
hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety itself is always felt. Only the ego can produce or feel anxiety,
but the id, superego, and external world each are involved in one of three kinds of anxiety—
neurotic, moral, and realistic. The ego’s dependence on the id results in neurotic anxiety; its
dependence on the superego produces moral anxiety; and its dependence on the outer world leads
to realistic anxiety. Neurotic anxiety is defined as apprehension about an unknown danger. The
feeling itself exists in the ego, but it originates from id impulses. People may experience neurotic
anxiety in the presence of a teacher, employer, or some other authority figure because
they previously experienced unconscious feelings of destruction against one or both parents.
During childhood, these feelings of hostility are often accompanied by fear of punishment, and
this fear becomes generalized into unconscious neurotic anxiety. A second type of anxiety, moral
anxiety, stems from the conflict between the ego and the superego. After children establish a
superego—usually by the age of 5 or 6—they may experience anxiety as an outgrowth of
the conflict between realistic needs and the dictates of their superego. Moral anxiety, for
example, would result from sexual temptations if a child believes that yielding to the temptation
would be morally wrong. It may also result from the failure to behave consistently with what
they regard as morally right, for example, failing to care for aging parents. A third category of
anxiety, realistic anxiety, is closely related to fear. It is de fined as an unpleasant, nonspecific
feeling involving a possible danger. For example, we may experience realistic anxiety while
driving in heavy, fast-moving traffic in an unfamiliar city, a situation fraught with real, objective
danger. However, realistic anxiety is different from fear in that it does not involve a specific
fearful object. We would experience fear, for example, if our motor vehicle suddenly began
sliding out of control on an icy highway. These three types of anxiety are seldom clear-cut
or easily separated. They often exist in combination, as when fear of water, a real danger,
becomes disproportionate to the situation and hence precipitates neurotic anxiety as well as
realistic anxiety. This situation indicates that an unknown danger is connected with the external
one. Anxiety serves as an ego-preserving mechanism because it signals us that some danger is at
hand Anxiety allows the constantly vigilant ego to be alert for signs of threat and danger. The
signal of impending danger stimulates us to mobilize for either flight or defense. Anxiety is also
self-regulating because it precipitates repression, which in turn reduces the pain of anxiety. If
the ego had no recourse to defensive behavior, the anxiety would become intolerable.
Defensive behaviors, therefore, serve a useful function by protecting the ego against the pain of
anxiety. Defense Mechanisms Freud first elaborated on the idea of defense mechanisms in
1926, and his daughter Anna further refined and organized the concept. Although defense
mechanisms are normal and universally used, when carried to an extreme they lead to
compulsive, repetitive, and neurotic behavior. This, is precisely the ego’s purpose in establishing
defense mechanisms—to avoid dealing directly with sexual and aggressive implosives and to
defend itself against the anxiety that accompanies them. The principal defense mechanisms
identified by Freud include repression, re action formation, displacement, fixation,
regression, projection, introjection, and sublimation. Repression The most basic defense
mechanism, because it is involved in each of the others, is repression. Whenever the ego is
threatened by undesirable id impulses, it protects itself by repressing those impulses; that is, it
forces threatening feelings into the unconscious. Or repression, a defense mechanism that
involves unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes anxiety. Repression can
operate on memories of situations or people, on our perception of the present (so that we may fail
to see some obviously disturbing event right in front of us), and even on the body’s physiological
functioning. For example, a man can so strongly repress the sex drive that he becomes impotent.
Reaction Formation One of the ways in which a repressed impulse may become conscious is
through adopting a disguise that is directly opposite its original form. This defense mechanism is
called a reaction formation. In reaction formation, we defend ourselves against a disturbing
impulse by actively expressing the opposite impulse. For example, a person who feels
threatened by sexual longings may become a rabid crusader against pornography. Someone
who is disturbed by extreme aggressive impulses may become overly solicitous and friendly.
Thus, lust becomes virtue and hatred becomes love, in the unconscious mind of the person using
this mechanism. Displacement Freud believed that reaction formations are limited to a single
object; for example, people with reactive love shower affection only on the person toward whom
they feel unconscious hatred. In displacement, however, people can redirect their unacceptable
urges onto a variety of people or objects so that the original impulse is disguised or concealed.
Or if an object that satisfies an id impulse is not available, the person may shift the impulse to
another object. This is known as displacement. For example, children who hate their parents or
adults who hate their bosses, but are afraid to express their hostility for fear of being punished,
may displace the aggression onto someone else—usually someone who is less likely to fight
back or retaliate. Fixation Psychical growth normally proceeds in a somewhat continuous
fashion through the various stages of development. The process of psychologically growing up,
however, is not without stressful and anxious moments. When the prospect of taking the next
step becomes too anxiety.
provoking, the ego may resort to the strategy of remaining at the present, more comfortable
psychological stage. Such a defense is called fixation. Technically, fixation is the permanent
attachment of the libido onto an earlier, more primitive stage of development. Like other
defense mechanisms, fixations are universal. People who continually derive pleasure from
eating, smoking, or talking may have an oral fixation, whereas those who are obsessed with
neatness and orderliness may possess an anal fixation. Regression Once the libido has passed a
developmental stage, it may, during times of stress and anxiety, revert back to that earlier stage.
Such a reversion is known as regression. Regressions are quite common and are readily visible in
children. In regression, the person retreats or regresses to an earlier period of life that was more
pleasant and free of the current level of frustration and anxiety. Regression usually involves a
return to one of the stages of childhood development. The individual returns to this more secure
time of life by behaving as they did at that time, such as being childish and dependent. Projection
When an internal impulse provokes too much anxiety, the ego may reduce that anxiety by
attributing the unwanted impulse to an external object, usually another person. This is
the defense mechanism of projection, which can be defined as seeing in others
unacceptable feelings or tendencies that actually reside in one’s own unconscious. Or the way of
defending against disturbing impulses is to project them on to someone else. This defense
mechanism is called projection. Lustful, aggressive, and other unacceptable impulses are
seen as being possessed by other people, not by oneself. The person says, in effect, “I don’t hate
him. He hates me.” Or a mother may ascribe her sex drive to her adolescent daughter. The
impulse is still manifested, but in a way that feels less threatening to the individual. An extreme
type of projection is paranoia, a mental disorder characterized by powerful delusions of jealousy
and persecution. Paranoia is not an inevitable outcome of projection but simply a severe variety
of it. Introjection Whereas projection involves placing an unwanted impulse onto an external
object, introjection is a defense mechanism whereby people incorporate positive qualities of
another person into their own ego. People introject characteristics that they see as valuable and
that will permit them to feel better about themselves. Freud saw the resolution of the Oedipus
complex as the prototype of introjection. Sublimation A defense mechanism that involves
altering or displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual energy into socially acceptable
behaviors. Sublimation is the repression of the genital aim of Eros by substituting a cultural or
social aim. The sublimated aim is expressed most obviously in creative cultural accomplishments
such as art, music, and literature, but more subtly, it is part of all human relationships and all
social pursuits.

Denial The defense mechanism of denial is related to repression and involves denying the
existence of some external threat or traumatic event that has occurred. For example, a
person with a terminal illness may deny the imminence of death. Parents of a child who
has died may continue to deny the loss by keeping the child’s room unchanged. In summary, all
defense mechanisms protect the ego against anxiety. They are universal in that everyone engages
in defensive behavior to some degree. Each defense mechanism combines with repression, and
each can be carried to the point of psychopathology. Normally, however, defense mechanisms
are beneficial to the individual and harmless to society. In addition, one defense mechanism—
sublimation usually benefits both the individual and society.

STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (Psychosexual Stages of Personality Development)

Infantile Period One of Freud’s most important assumptions is that infants possess a sexual life
and go through a period of pregenital sexual development during the first 4 or 5 years after birth.
Childhood sexuality differs from adult sexuality in that it is not capable of reproduction and is
exclusively autoerotic. With both children and adults, however, the sexual impulses can
be satisfied through organs other than the genitals. The mouth and anus are particularly
sensitive to erogenous stimulation. Freud divided the infantile stage into three phases
according to which of the three primary erogenous zones is undergoing the most salient
development. The oral phase begins first and is followed in order by the anal phase and the
phallic phase. The three infantile stages overlap, with one another and each continues after the
onset of later stages. Oral Phase -Taking In or Spitting Out Because the mouth is the first organ
to provide an infant with pleasure, Freud’s first infantile stage of development is the oral phase.
Infants obtain life-sustaining nourishment through the oral cavity, but beyond that, they also gain
pleasure through the act of sucking. During this stage, the infant is totally dependent on the
mother or caregiver who becomes the primary object of the child’s libido

The sexual aim of early oral activity is to incorporate or receive into one’s body the object-
choice, that is, the nipple. During this oral-receptive phase, infants feel no ambivalence toward
the pleasurable object and their needs are usually satisfied with a minimum of frustration and
anxiety. As they grow older, however, they are more likely to experience feelings of frustration
and anxiety as a result of scheduled feedings, increased time lapses between feedings,
and eventual weaning. There are two ways of behaving during this stage: oral incorporative
behavior (taking in) and oral aggressive or oral sadistic behavior (biting or spitting out). The oral
incorporative mode occurs first and involves the pleasurable stimulation of the mouth by other
people and by food. Adults fixated at the oral incorporative stage become excessively concerned
with oral activities, like eating, drinking, smoking, and kissing. If, as infants, they were
excessively gratified during this stage, their adult oral personality will be predisposed to a high
degree of optimism and dependency. As a consequence, they become overly gullible, swallow or
believe anything they are told, and trust other people inordinately. Such people are labeled oral
passive personality types. The second oral behavior, oral aggressive or oral sadistic, occurs
during the painful, frustrating eruption of teeth. As a result of this experience, infants come to
view the mother with hatred as well as love. Those who become fixated at this level are
prone to excessive pessimism, hostility, and aggressiveness. They are likely to be
argumentative and sarcastic, making so-called biting remarks and displaying cruelty toward
others. They tend to be envious of other people and try to exploit and manipulate them in an
effort to dominate them. The Anal Stage: Letting Go or Holding Back The aggressive drive,
which during the first year of life takes the form of oral sadism, reaches fuller development
during the second year when the anus emerges as a sexually pleasurable zone. Because this
period is characterized by satisfaction gained through aggressive behavior and through the
excretory function, Freud called it the sadistic-anal phase or, more briefly, the anal phase of
development. This phase is divided into two subphases, the early anal and the late anal. During
the early anal period, children receive satisfaction by destroying or losing objects. At this time,
the destructive nature of the sadistic drive is stronger than the erotic one, and children often
behave aggressively toward their parents for frustrating them with toilet training. Then, when
children enter the late anal period, they sometimes take a friendly interest toward their feces, an
interest that stems from the erotic pleasure of defecating. Frequently, children will present their
feces to the parents as a valued prize. If their behavior is accepted and praised by their parents,
then children are likely to grow into generous and magnanimous adults. If the toilet training is
not going well the child may react in one of two ways. One way is to defecate whenever and
wherever the parents don’t want them to, thus defying their attempts at regulation. Children who
find this a satisfactory technique for reducing frustration and use it frequently may develop an
anal aggressive personality. To Freud, this was the basis for many forms of hostile and sadistic
behavior in adult life, including cruelty, destructiveness, and temper tantrums.
A second way the child may react to the frustration of toilet training is to hold back or retain the
feces. This produces a feeling of erotic pleasure (derived from a full lower intestine, Freud said)
and can be another successful technique for manipulating the parents. They may become
worried, even frantic, if the child goes days without a bowel movement. Thus, the child
discovers a new method for securing parental attention and affection. This behavior is the basis
for the development of an anal retentive personality. Such a person becomes stubborn and
stingy, and hoards or retains things because feelings of security depend on what is saved and
possessed, and on the order and in which possessions and other aspects of life are maintained.
The anal retentive person is likely to be rigid, compulsively neat, obstinate, and overly
conscientious. The Phallic Stage A new set of problems arises around the fourth to fifth year,
when the focus of pleasure shifts from the anus to the genitals. Again the child faces a battle
between an id impulse and the demands of society, as reflected in parental expectations. At
approximately 3 or 4 years of age, children begin a third stage of infantile development—the
phallic phase, a time when the genital area becomes the leading erogenous zone. This stage is
marked for the first time by a dichotomy between male and female development, a distinction
that Freud believed to be due to the anatomical differences between the sexes. The experience
with the Oedipus complex plays an even more crucial role in their personality development.
Freud (1925/1961) believed that preceding the phallic stage an infant boy forms an identification
with his father; that is, he wants to be his father. Later he develops a sexual desire for his mother;
that is, he wants to have his mother. These two wishes do not appear mutually contradictory to
the underdeveloped ego, so they are able to exist side by side for a time. When the boy finally
recognizes their inconsistency, he gives up his identification with his father and retains the
stronger feeling—the desire to have his mother. The boy now sees his father as a rival for the
mother’s love. He desires to do away with his father and possess his mother in a sexual
relationship. This condition of rivalry toward the father and incestuous feelings toward the
mother is known as the simple male Oedipus complex. The term is taken from the Greek tragedy
by Sophocles in which Oedipus, King of Thebes, is destined by fate to kill his father and marry
his mother. During the Oedipal period, therefore, his feminine nature may lead him to display
affection toward his father and express hostility toward his mother, while at the same time his
masculine tendency disposes him toward hostility for father and lust for mother. During this
ambivalent condition, known as the complete Oedipus complex, affection and hostility coexist
because one or both feelings may be unconscious. Freud believed that these feelings of
ambivalence in a boy play a role in the evolution of the castration complex, which for boys takes
the form of castration anxiety or the fear of losing the penis. The Oedipus Complex in Girls:-
Freud was less clear about the female phallic conflict, which some of his followers termed the
Electra complex. The name was derived from another happy family story by Sophocles in which
Electra persuades her brother to kill their mother, whom she hated. According to Freud, a girl’s
first object of love, like the boy’s, is the mother, because she is the primary source of food,
affection, and security in infancy. During the phallic stage, however, the father becomes the
girl’s new love object. Freud said it was because of the girl’s reaction to her discovery that boys
have a penis and girls do not. The girl blames her mother for her supposedly inferior condition
and consequently comes to love her mother less. She may even hate the mother for what she
imagines the mother did to her. She comes to envy her father and transfers her love to him
because he possesses the highly valued sex organ. Thus, a girl develops penis envy, which is a
counterpart to a boy’s castration anxiety. She believes she has lost her penis; he fears he will lose
his. Phallic conflicts and their degree of resolution are of major importance in determining adult
relations with the opposite sex. Poorly resolved conflicts can cause lingering forms of
castration anxiety and penis envy. The so-called phallic character or personality type evidences
strong narcissism. Freud described the male phallic personality as brash, vain, and self-assured.
Men with this personality try to assert or express their masculinity through repeated sexual
conquests. The female phallic personality, motivated by penis envy, exaggerates her femininity
and uses her talents and charms to overwhelm and conquer men. Latency Period The storms and
stresses of the oral, anal, and phallic stages of psychosexual development form the basic
material out of which most of the adult personality is shaped. The three major structures
—the id, ego, and superego—have been formed by around the age of 5, and the
relationships among them are being solidified. Fortunately, because the child and parents
certainly could use some rest, the next 5 or 6 years are quiet. The latency period is not
a psychosexual stage of development. The sex instinct is dormant during this time, Freud
believed, and is temporarily sublimated in school activities, hobbies, and sports and in
developing friendships with members of the same sex. Freud believed that, from the 4th or 5th
year until puberty, both boys and girls usually, but not always, go through a period of
dormant psychosexual development. This latency stage is brought about partly by parents’
attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their young children. If parental suppression is
successful, children will repress their sexual drive and direct their psychic energy toward school,
friendships, hobbies, and other nonsexual activities. Genital Period Puberty signals a
reawakening of the sexual aim and the beginning of the genital period. During puberty, the
diphasic sexual life of a person enters a second stage, which has basic differences from the
infantile period. First, adolescents give up autoeroticism and direct their sexual energy toward
another per son instead of toward themselves. Second, reproduction is now possible. Third,
although penis envy may continue to linger in girls, the vagina finally obtains the same status for
them that the penis had for them during infancy. Parallel to this, boys now see the female organ
as a sought-after object rather than a source of trauma. Fourth, the entire sexual drive takes on
a more complete organization, and the component drives that had operated somewhat
independently during the early infantile period gain a kind of synthesis during
adolescence; thus, the mouth, anus, and other pleasure-producing areas take an auxiliary
position to the genitals, which now attain supremacy as an erogenous zone. This synthesis of
Eros, the elevated status of the vagina, the reproductive capacity of the sexual drive, and ability
of people to direct their libido outward rather than onto the self represent the major distinctions
between infantile and adult sexuality. In several other ways, however, Eros remains unchanged.
It may continue to be repressed, sublimated; or expressed in masturbation or other sexual acts.
The subordinated erogenous zones also continue as vehicles of erotic
pleasure. The mouth, for example, retains many of its infantile activities; a person may
discontinue thumb sucking but may add smoking or prolonged kissing. Maturity The genital
period begins at puberty and continues throughout the individual’s lifetime. It is a stage attained
by everyone who reaches physical maturity. In addition to the genital stage, Freud alluded
to but never fully conceptualized a period of psychological maturity, a stage attained after a
person has passed through the earlier developmental periods in an ideal manner. Unfortunately,
psychological maturity seldom happens, because people have too many opportunities to
develop pathological disorders or neurotic predispositions. Research techniques Freud
considered the conscious to be the major motivating force in life. It is the repository of all our
childhood conflicts which have been repressed out of conscious awareness. The goal of Freud
system of psychoanalysis was to bring those repressed memories and thoughts back into
conscious awareness. Freud learned the hypnotic techniques from Charcot for treating hysteria, a
disorder typically characterized by paralysis or the improper functioning of certain parts of the
body. Through hypnosis, Freud became convinced of a psychogenic and sexual origin of
hysterical symptoms. Later Breues taught Freud about catharsis, the process of removing
hysterical symptoms through "talking them out ". While using catharsis, Freud gradually and
laboriously discovered free association technique, which soon replaced hypnosis as his principle
therapeutic technique. With free association, patients are required to verbalize every thought that
comes to their mind, no matter how irrelevant it may appear. The purpose of free
association is to arrive at the unconscious by starting with a present conscious idea and
following it through a train of associations to wherever it leads. The process is not easy and
some patients never master it. For this reason, Dream analysis remained a favorite therapeutic
technique with Freud. The transference refers to the strong sexual or aggressive feelings, positive
or negative, that patient develop towards their analyst during the course of treatment. As long as
these feelings manifest themselves as interest or love transference does not interfere with the
process of treatment but is a powerful ally to the therapeutic progress. Positive transference
permits patients to more or less relive childhood experiences with in the non-threatening climate
of the analytic treatment. However, negative transference in the form of hostility must be
recognized by the therapist and explained to patient so that they can overcome any resistance to
treatment. Resistance, which refers to the variety of unconscious responses used by patients to
block their own progress in therapy can be positive sign because it indicates that therapy has
advanced beyond superficial material. Freud used dream analysis to transform the manifest
content of dreams to the more important latent content. The manifest content of a dream is
the surface meaning or the conscious description given by the dreams, whereas the latent
content refers to its unconscious material. The basic assumption of Freud's dream analysis is that
nearly all dreams are wish fulfilment. Some wishes are obvious and are expressed through
manifest content. But some are expressed in the latent content and only dream can
interpretation can uncovered that wish. The latent content of dreamer is formed in the
unconscious and usually goes back to childhood experiences, Whereas the manifest content
often stems from experiences of previous day.
The interpretation of dream serves as the "royal read" to knowledge of the unconscious, but
dream should not be interpreted without the dreamer association to the dream. Freud believed
that many everyday slips of the tongue or pen, misreading, incorrect hearing, misplacing objects
and temporarily forgetting names or intentions are not chance accident but reveal a person's
unconscious intentions. James Strachy invented the term parapraxes for refer to what many
people now simply call Freudian slips. Through all this psychoanalytic techniques Freud conduct
his research on personality.

NEW SUBTOPIC: PERCEPTION

Perception is the process through which the information from outside environment is selected,
received, organized and interpreted to make it meaningful to you. This input of meaningful
information results in decisions and action.
Characteristics – - Perception is a selective process: We do not perceive each and everything in
the world or around us. We attend to only a part of the stimuli around us. We select only a
limited range of stimuli to which we attend. Attention is a basic process in perception. It makes
our perception selective in nature. What we select would depend upon our needs, interests, and
motives or on the nature of stimuli to which we are exposed. - Perception requires sensation:
Perception is intimately related to sensation. In order for perception to occur, we must first
experience some sensation. - Perception involves organization: Perception is not merely a
collection of present sensations and memory traces of past experiences. It is a meaningful and
integrated organization of past and present knowledge. - Perception involves past experience:
Perception involves past experience also. The present information can be meaningfully
understood only when we integrate our past and interpret it in terms of present or future
consequences. - Change is the basis of perception: Perception is always a response to some
change or difference in the environment. If the world were uniformly the same we would
experience no perception. E.g., change in the weather, style of dress, food, etc. is easily
perceived. Any change in the normal routine is perceived quickly. - Perception is objective as
well as subjective: We all perceive certain things as the same e.g., table, chair, etc. are perceived
by every one of us in a more or less similar manner. This is objective perception. In many cases
our perception is considerably influenced by our thoughts, motives, interests, etc. Such
perception is subjective in nature, e.g., an ambiguous event may be perceived differently by
different individuals.
- Perception has affective aspect : Our perception often induces emotions in us. When we
perceive an old friend we feel happy. When we perceive a snake, we are afraid. Thus, perception
produces feelings and emotions. Determinants – Determinants of perception are basically
divided into two categories: 1. Structural 2. Behavioral ● Structural determinants refer to those
qualities that stem from the stimulus itself such as its size, shape, color, amount, intensity,
continuity, distance, depth etc. ● Behavioral determinants refer to attention, past experiences,
needs, values, learning of a person ● Besides these two basic categories another important
determinant of perception is stimulus organization, that is, object arrangement. Perceptual
organization is governed by the Gestalt laws of organization: Proximity, Similarity, Closure and
Continuity.
Factors affecting;
● Internal -
- Mind set
- Interest
- Motives and Needs
- Past experience
- Cognitive styles
● External –
- Socio-economic status
- Nature and Nurture
- Situation
- Culture
PERCEPTUAL PROCESS
The process by which an individual selects organizes, and interprets environmental stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture of the world. The process through which information in the
form of stimuli in the environment is selected, organized, and interpreted through the sense
organs. Perception is a process that helps individuals organize and interpret their sensory
impressions so as to add meaning to the data received. It is the meaningful interpretation of the
data provided by the senses to the brain. Nevertheless, it is also true, what a person perceives,
may or may not be the same as the end reality. Everyone’s approach towards life is different and
his behavior greatly depends on his perception. It is the primary source of a person’s knowledge
about the external world and so his behavior is highly dependent on what he perceives about
himself and the world surrounding him. It can also be defined as the way in which a person
experiences the world.

The sensory system:

An overview Vision: By far the most important input for the sensory system; used to affect
motions and symbolic meaning evokes emotions. Colour; an important symbolic function,
influences taste, and expectations, part of brands intellectual property. The size, shape, and
colour of products are very relevant. Colour can evoke strong emotional responses brands like
Coca-Cola and Virgin Airlines have found ways to use color to promote brand recognition for
their products. These brands’ logos are instantly recognizable all over the world. Smell: stirs
emotions, evokes memories, or relieves stress. Triggers memories. Often linked to taste. Sound:
influences emotion, affects feelings, and invokes memories. Symbolic meaning. Affects brand
recall e.g commercial sounds. Do you recognize this sound? - classical conditioning. ‘I'm loving
it’ - McDonald’s Music affects cognitive functions and influences senses. It influences the pace
of our behavior, walker, faster to fast upbeat music. The Mozart effect Touch: or tactical cues
influence judgements and have symbolic meaning. Social function; need for touch Apple was
one of the first brands to provide in-store access to its technology. This approach allowed users
to touch and interact with the technology before buying. Rather than focus on selling, the Apple
approach was to simply let people use the tools until they decided what worked for them. Taste:
closely linked to other sensor input; contributes to hedonic experiences. Cultural specific the
sense of taste is extremely subjective, so it can often backfire if people don’t like the way a
product tastes. This was the case when Coca-Cola introduced ‘New Coke’in 1985, and saw sales
drop dramatically. The most common type of taste marketing is through samples of foods and
beverages. These are very common at supermarkets and liquor stores. The initial taste of
something will help a consumer to understand the food or beverage production a visceral way. -
ice-cream shops!
Exposure Exposure is the degree to which people notice the stimulus that is within the range
of their sensory receptors-Selective exposure; Consumers can influence to a certain extent to
which stimuli they are exposed, this is done by selectively exposing themselves to certain
environments. Consumers are aware of stimuli that reflect to their current needs- Adaption; the
degree to which consumers continue to notice a stimulus overtime Mere exposure effect;
preferences for products that consumers are more often exposed to. This is because the
products become familiar to us. This limits the range of choices we are able and willing to
consider when making future decisions and narrows the perspective from which we make them.
Individual effect: In a foreign country such as Spain and going to a local restaurant. We do not
recognize a lot of meals on the menu however we see a pizza and are familiar with it so chose
it.This cognitive bias may also help create social norms and reinforce social stereotypes.
According to the mere exposure effect, we are more likely to adopt ideas that we are repeatedly
exposed to. We are repeatedly exposed to ideas in the media that support social norms and
stereotypes. This can facilitate our own adoption of these ideas, which can sometimes be
harmful.
We should seek to avoid the mere exposure effect because it can make us miss out on valuable
information and opportunities that we have never seen before. This can cause us to make under
informed decisions, and prevent us from seizing new opportunities. How to attract attention;
Personal factors-Perceptual vigilance: We consciously and unconsciously focus on stimuli in
which we are interested, motivated and involved in.-Perceptual defense; We filter out
unpleasant and threatening stimuli (smoking causes fatal lung cancer)- Adaption Attracting the
attention of a consumer is a challenge for companies Size Unconventional placements Famous
figure; evaluative conditioning Optical Illusion Evoke emotions; sex, animals, shock, humor.

THE RESPONSE: Gestalt psychology

The word gestalt originates from German and is being used to talk about the way something is
put together, often translated into English as the “form”, “shape” or unified whole. Gestalt
psychology can be defined as a school of thought that emerged in the early twenties and believes
that the whole of an object or a scene is greater and more important than its components.
Through Gestalt psychology, we are encouraged to see and treat the mind and behavior as a
whole. Gestalt Psychology also contributed to the study of sensation and perception Gestalt
psychology; People look for meaning and patterns in the stimuli in their environment. Gestalt;
‘’whole or a completion that is greater than the sum of its parts’’ Provides marketers with the
tools to understand how the public visually interprets the stimuli to which it is subjected.
Principle of closure This principle explains how humans prefer to see complete elements. When
seeing incomplete elements, we can fill in missing information to still perceive it as complete.
This principle is often used for advertisements. Advertisers come up with indicative phrases for
the public to complete. This approach is believed to trigger interest and greater involvement from
the audience

Although the Panda shape is not complete, we can perceive the animal in its entirety as our mind
has completed the white spaces Principle of similarity - Another way humans tend to group
elements in their visual fields is by looking for similarities. Elements that look alike will
automatically be grouped together. For example, during a sports event, people who wear the
same color shirt are perceived to be on the same team. Principle of proximity - This principle
states that when the human eye sees elements that are placed close to each other that we perceive
them to be a set or group. An example is a way we read a text. When letters are put together, our
perception is that they form a word. E.g Coca Cola
Sub-consciously, our brain has grouped the bottles, perceiving them as a whole and
not as individual stimulus. Consequently, we then perceive these grouped bottles as
smile. .As a result, the consumer will associate Coca-Cola with a smile which is a
synonym on happiness and joy. This creates an emotional attachment and greater
incentive to purchase the soft drink. Principle of figure and ground The figure-
ground principle states that people instinctively perceive objects as either being in
the foreground or the background. They either stand out prominently in the front
(the figure) or recede into the back (the ground). Experiences: Experiences from
the past are used to create meaning Knowledge Memories, past experiences,
preferences. At the end of this process, perceptions are formed and in turn that
influence consumers cognitive and emotional responses. The Perceptual Process:
This process begins with exposure. The sense in our eyes, mouth, ear, skin are
continuously exposed to stimuli. Consumers can influence to a certain extent to
which stimuli they are exposed by selectively exposing themselves to certain
environments, same as personal vigilance For example the selection of our news
channels: consumers tend to choose what type of news they are willing to be
exposed to.
Consumers will perceive marketing experiences stimuli selectively because each person will be
unique in terms of her needs, attitudes experiences and personal characteristics. Selective
perception means that different persons may perceive the same product, advertisement package
in a different way Our century memory processes all this information and we filter it. We pay
attention to some stimuli and ignore others. This filter is based on our personal preferences and
motivation. We consciously and unconsciously focus on stimuli that we are interested, motivated
and involved in. - known as personal vigilance We also filter out unpleasant and threatening
stimuli. - known as personal defense. Example smokers blocks out the warning signs and
pictures on cigarette package. There is a lot of competing input in the marketing industry and
therefore attracting the attention on consumers is a difficult challenge for marketers. To gain
attention companies often come up with surprising and novel messages. After we focus our
attention on stimuli, we attach meaning to them by organizing them. We have different
mechanisms to do this:- Gestalt psychology: principle of closure, proximity, similarity and figure
and ground are often used- We also use our past experiences, knowledge and feelings to interpret
what the stimuli means and response to it.. At the end of this process, perceptions are formed and
in turn they influence consumer cognitive and emotional responses, which steer memories,
attitudes and behaviors. Difference between sensation and meaning. The primary experience of a
stimulus identified by a specific sensory organ is called sensation. With this process, the
information from the external world reaches our brain. On the other hand, the process with which
we interpret the sensations experienced by us in our day-to-day life and then we act upon them is
called perception. In this process, an individual identifies, interprets, and gives meaning to the
information supplied by sensory organs.

- Some people see a duck and some people see a rabbit

.- In the exposure and the attention phrase
- Only in the interpretation phrase do we attach meaning to what we see. This is where we
decided whether we see a duck or a rabbit.
Sensory Marketing: Marketing that focuses on this perceptual process and engages
consumers’ senses and affects their perception, judgment, and behaviors. Sensory marketing
involves many techniques that are used to reach your customer’s senses and influence their
behavior based on how your brand makes them feel By utilizing multisensory experiences,
marketers are able to guide opinions about their brands. When handled properly, sensory
marketing can help inspire the right mood and drive sales Starbucks takes advantage of all the
five senses through their sensory marketing. When you enter a Starbucks store you instantly
small their coffee. This is purposely ground in-store to create a coffee aroma. Hear the coffee
grinding. The smell is a very powerful sense for making emotional connections and enhancing
peoples experiences. Sound - jingles ‘did somebody say just eat. Ensure repeated customers
and creates brand loyalty Sensory marketing is traditionally associated with engaging in-store
consumers, and due to Covid-19 brand has been forced to revisit their marketing strategies
-Sensory Thresholds
-Absolute thresholds

-minimum stimulation that can be detected by sensory channel/ picked up by our senses
Differential threshold The ability of the sensory system to detect changes/differences of two or
more stimuli Weber’s Law (‘just noticeable difference’)- The stronger the initial sensory
stimulus, the greater the additional intensity needed for a second stimulus to be perceived as
different- The minimum change in a stimulus to be noticed by a majority of people. It is
important not to confuse the just noticeable difference and the absolute threshold. While the
difference threshold involves the ability to detect differences in stimulation levels, the absolute
threshold refers to the smallest detectable level of stimulation. The absolute threshold for sound,
for example, would be the lowest volume level that person could detect. The just noticeable
difference would be the smallest change in volume that a person could sense. For example, if the
price of a half-gallon container of premium squeezed orange juice is $5.50, most consumers will
probably not notice an increase in 25 cents, and it may take an increase of 50 cents or more
before a differential in price would be noticed Attention; ‘the mental activity given by a stimulus.
Explain the peripheral route to persuasion and discuss the ways in which marketers can influence
low-effort consumer attitudes. What are the different gestalt principles that influence how we
organize information? What are its applications in marketing? Briefly explain five of the
different stimulus selection factors that can influence audience attention What is the "mere
exposure effect" and what are its implications for marketing?

PERCEPTUAL ERRORS;
1. Stereotype. The process of assigning traits to people based on their membership in a social
category.
2. Halo Effect. The extension of one particular positive trait to influence the total judgment of
that person.
3. Horn Effect. The extension of one particular negative trait to influence thetotal judgment of
that person.
4. Recency Effect. A perceptual error in which the most recent information dominates one's
perception of others.
5. Primacy Effect. Our tendency to quickly form an opinion of people based on the first
information we receive about them.
6. Similar-to-me Effect. The perceiver tends to give more favorable evaluations to people who
are similar to themselves in terms of background or attitudes.
7. Self-serving Bias. A perceptual error whereby people tend to attribute their favourable
outcomes to internal factors and their failures to external factors.

8. Fundamental Attribution Error. The tendency to see the person rather than the situation as the
main cause of that person’s behaviour.
9. Contrast Error. Perception of performance exaggerated as a result of conscious/subconscious
comparison with another person.