Personality Theories
The term personality is derived from the Latin
word persona meaning a
mask.
Creepy…
Personality is the sum total of ways in which an individual
reacts and interacts with others.
“Personality is I. We get a good idea of what
personality is by listening to what we say when
we use "I". When you say I, you are, in effect,
summing up everything about yourself - your
likes and dislikes, fears and virtues, strengths
and weaknesses. The word I is what defined
you as an individual, as a person separate from
all others.”
Adams (1954, cited in Schultz & Schultz, 1994)
Approaches to personality
•
Trait Theories
•
Traits
•
Types
•
Psychodynamic approaches.
•
Sociocultural Approaches
•
Humanistic approaches
Trait theories
On the play ground, 6 year old Sam pushes little
Samantha off her tricycle and rides away on it.
Why?
SAMANTHA
SAM
Traits
Aggressive
Hot Tempered
Undisciplined
personality traits
- enduring patterns of perceiving,
relating to, and
thinking about the
environment and oneself that are
exhibited in a wide range of social and personal
contexts."
trait
- a characteristic way in which an individual
believes, or acts.
Examples?
perceives, feels,
Theorists generally assume that
Traits are:
1. Differ among individuals
2. Are also bipolar
3. Influence behavior
4. Relatively stable over time
Three trait theory
In 1936, psychologist Gordon Allport found that one Englishlanguage dictionary alone contained more than 4,000 words
describing different personality traits. He categorized these
traits into three levels.
Three trait theory
1. Cardinal Traits: Traits that dominate an individual’s whole life, often to the point
that the person becomes known specifically for these traits. Freudian,
Machiavellian, narcissism, Don Juan, Christ-like, etc.
2. Central Traits: These are the general characteristics that form the basic
foundations of personality. Terms such as intelligent, honest, shy and anxious
are considered central traits.
3. Secondary Traits: These are the traits that are sometimes related to attitudes or
preferences and often appear only in certain situations or under specific
circumstances. Some examples would be getting anxious when speaking to a
group or impatient while waiting in line.
16 personality factor theory
Trait theorist Raymond Cattell reduced the number of
main personality traits from All port’s initial list of over
4,000 down to 16 by means of a statistical technique
called factor analysis.
16 personality factor theory
1. emotional, easily upset
2. Intelligent
3. suspicious
4. reserved, unfriendly
5. assertive, dominant
6. sober, serious
7. conscientious
8. shy, timid
9. tender-minded
10.practical
11.shrewd
12.self-assured, placid
13.conservative
14.group oriented
15.undisciplined
16.Relaxed
vs. calm, stable
vs. unintelligent
vs. trusting
vs. outgoing, friendly
vs. not assertive, humble
vs. happy-go-lucky
vs. expedient
vs. venturesome
vs. tough-minded
vs. imaginative
vs. forthright
vs. apprehensive
vs. experimenting
vs. self-sufficient
vs. self-disciplined
vs. tense, driven
Universal trait theory
British psychologist Hans Eysenck
developed a model of personality
based upon just three universal traits
were sufficient to describe human
personality.
Universal trait theory
1. Introversion vs. Extraversion: Introversion involves directing attention on inner experiences,
while extraversion relates to focusing attention outward on other people and the
environment. So, a person high in introversion might be quiet and reserved, while an
individual high in extraversion might be sociable and outgoing.
2. Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability: This dimension of Eysenck’s trait theory is related to
moodiness versus even-temperedness. Neuroticism refers to an individual’s tendency to
become upset or emotional, while stability refers to the tendency to remain
emotionally constant.
3. Psychoticism: Later, after studying individuals suffering from mental illness, Eysenck added
a personality dimension he called psychoticism to his trait theory. Individuals who are
high on this trait tend to have difficulty dealing with reality and may be antisocial,
hostile, non-empathetic and manipulative.
Big five model
Both Cattell’s and Eysenck’s theory have been the subject of
considerable research, which has led some theorists to believe that
Cattell focused on too many traits, while Eysenck focused on too few.
As a result, a new trait theory often referred to as the "Big Five" theory
emerged. This five-factor model of personality represents five core
traits that interact to form human personality. Lewis Goldberg proposed
a five-dimension personality model, nicknamed the Big five.
Big five model
1. Openness to Experience: the tendency to be imaginative, independent, and interested in
variety vs. practical, conforming, and interested in routine.
2. Conscientiousness: the tendency to be organized, careful, and disciplined vs.
disorganized, careless, and impulsive.
3. Extraversion: the tendency to be sociable, fun-loving, and affectionate vs. retiring,
somber, and reserved.
4. Agreeableness: the tendency to be soft-hearted, trusting, and helpful vs. ruthless,
suspicious, and uncooperative.
5. Neuroticism: the tendency to be calm, secure, and self-satisfied vs. anxious, insecure,
and self-pitying.
Criticisms of trait theories
1. being purely descriptive and offering little explanation of the underlying
causes of personality
2. Lead some people to accept oversimplified classifications
3. Underestimate the effect of specific situations on people's behavior.
4. Poor predictors of behavior.
Type theories
SAMANTHA
SAM
Type
Type A
Choleric
Types Vs Traits
Personality type refers to the psychological
classification of different types of people
Personality trait refers to psychological
classification of different levels or degrees
For example, according to type theories, there are two types of people, introverts and extroverts. According to trait
theories, introversion and extroversion are part of a continuous dimension, with many people in the middle.
4 Temperament theory
Temperament theory
- Greek physician Hippocrates (460–370 BC) who
developed it into a medical theory
- Galen (AD 131–200) developed the first typology of
temperament
The word "temperament" itself comes from Latin
"temperare", "to mix". In the ideal personality, the
complementary characteristics or warm-cool and drymoist were equally balanced.
Temperament theory
4 Humors
(Biology)
4 Temperaments
Blood
Sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable)
Yellow bile
Choleric (ambitious and leader-like)
Black bile
Melancholic (introverted and thoughtful)
Phlegm
Phlegmatic (relaxed and quiet)
Sanguine
(pleasure-seeking and sociable)
Phlegmatic
(relaxed and quiet)
4 Temperaments
Melancholic
(introverted and thoughtful)
Choleric
(ambitious and leader-like)
5 Temperament theory
Developed by William
Schultz
5 Temperament theory
4 humors
5 Temperaments
Blood
Sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable)
Yellow bile
Choleric (ambitious and leader-like)
Black bile
Melancholic (introverted and thoughtful)
Phlegm
Phlegmatic (relaxed and quiet)
Supine (Low self esteem)
Sanguine
Phlegmatic
(pleasure-seeking and sociable)
(relaxed and quiet)
Supine
(Low Self esteem)
Melancholic
(introverted and thoughtful)
Choleric
(ambitious and leader-like)
Type A and Type B theory
Type A personality behavior was first described as a potential risk
factor for heart disease in the 1950s by cardiologists Meyer Friedman
and Ray Rosenman. After a ten-year study of healthy men between the
ages of 35 and 59, Friedman and Rosenman estimated that Type A
behavior doubles the risk of coronary heart disease in otherwise
healthy individuals.
Type A and Type B theory
Type A
• Ambitious
• Rigidly organized
• Highly status conscious
• Can be sensitive
• Care for other people
• Truthful
• Impatient
• Always try to help others
• Take on more than they can handle,
• Succinct
• Proactive
• Obsessed efficiency
• High-achieving "workaholics" who multi-
task.
Type B
• Live at a lower stress level
• Typically work steadily
• Enjoying
achievements
but
not
becoming stressed when they are not
achieved
• Not overly competitive
• They are often reflective
• Thinking about the outer and inner
worlds
• Type B personalities may have a poor
sense of time schedule and can be
predominately right brained thinkers
Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
This was one of the more influential ideas originated in the
theoretical work of Carl Jung as published in the book Psychological
Types. The original developers of the personality inventory were
Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers. these
two, having studied extensively the work of Jung, turned their
interest of human behavior into a devotion of turning the theory of
psychological types to practical use.
Psychoanalytical Theories
Unconscious
SAMANTHA
SAM
Thoughts
Feelings
Displaced Anger
Psychoanalytical Theories
•
Explain human behaviour in terms of the interaction of various components of
personality
•
Sigmund Freud
•
Freud's theory places central importance on dynamic, unconscious psychological
conflicts
Structural model of personality
Sigmund Freud - Freud relied heavily upon his observations and case
studies of his patients when he formed his theory of personality
development
Structural model of personality
According to Freud the mind can be divided
into two main parts:
•
The conscious mind includes everything that we are
aware of. This is the aspect of our mental
processing that we can think and talk about
rationally.
•
The unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings,
thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of
our conscious awareness. Most of the
contents of the unconscious are unacceptable
or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety,
or conflict.
Defense Mechanisms
In Sigmund Freud's model of personality, the EGO is the
aspect of personality that deals with reality. While doing
this, the ego also has to cope with the conflicting demands
of the id and the superego. The ID seeks to fulfil all wants,
needs and impulses while the SUPEREGO tries to get the
ego to act in an idealistic and moral manner.
Types of Anxiety
•
Neurotic anxiety is the unconscious worry that we will lose control of the id's
urges, resulting in punishment for inappropriate behavior.
•
Reality anxiety is fear of real-world events. The cause of this anxiety is usually
easily identified. For example, a person might fear receiving a dog bite when
they are near a menacing dog. The most common way of reducing this anxiety
is to avoid the threatening object.
•
Moral anxiety involves a fear of violating our own moral principles.
In order to deal with this anxiety, Freud believed that defense mechanisms helped
shield the ego from the conflicts created by the id, superego and reality.
Defense Mechanisms
•
Denial - Denial is an outright refusal to admit or recognize that something has
occurred or is currently occurring. Drug addicts or alcoholics often deny that
they have a problem, while victims of traumatic events may deny that the
event ever occurred.
•
Repression - Repression acts to keep information out of conscious awareness.
However, these memories don't just disappear; they continue to influence
our behavior. For example, a person who has repressed memories of abuse
suffered as a child may later have difficulty forming relationships.
•
Suppression - Sometimes we do this consciously by forcing the unwanted
information out of our awareness, which is known as suppression. In most
cases, however, this removal of anxiety-provoking memories from our
awareness is believed to occur unconsciously.
Defense Mechanisms
•
Displacement - Displacement involves taking out our frustrations, feelings and
impulses on people or objects that are less threatening. Displaced aggression
is a common example of this defense mechanism.
•
Sublimation - Sublimation is a defence mechanism that allows us to act out
unacceptable impulses by converting these behaviours into a more
acceptable form. For example, a person experiencing extreme anger might
take up kick-boxing as a means of venting frustration.
•
Projection - Projection is a defense mechanism that involves taking our own
unacceptable qualities or feelings and ascribing them to other people. For
example, if you have a strong dislike for someone, you might instead believe
that he or she does not like you
Defense Mechanisms
•
Intellectualization - Intellectualization works to reduce anxiety by thinking about
events in a cold, clinical way. For example, a person who has just been
diagnosed with a terminal illness might focus on learning everything about the
disease in order to avoid distress and remain distant from the reality of the
situation.
•
Rationalization - Rationalization is a defense mechanism that involves explaining
an unacceptable behavior or feeling in a rational or logical manner, avoiding
the true reasons for the behavior. For example a student might blame a poor
exam score on the instructor rather than his or her lack of preparation.
•
Regression - When confronted by stressful events, people sometimes abandon
coping strategies and revert to patterns of behavior used earlier in
development. For example, an individual fixated at an earlier developmental
stage might cry or sulk upon hearing unpleasant news.
Behaviorist theories
SAMANTHA
SAM
Learned
Behavior
Previous aggressive behavior
rewarded
Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up
in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of
specialist I might select -- doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man
and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his
ancestors.
--John Watson, Behaviorism, 1930
Behaviorist Theories
a. Behaviorism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are
acquired through conditioning.
b. John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner
c. Unlike psychodynamic theorists, behaviorists study only observable behavior.
d. Their explanations of personality focus on learning.
Classical Conditioning
Ivan Pavlov was a noted Russian physiologist who went on to win the
1904 Nobel Prize for his work studying digestive processes. It was
while studying digestion in dogs that Pavlov noted an interesting
occurrence – his canine subjects would begin to salivate whenever
an assistant entered the room.
Classical Conditioning
1.
The Unconditioned Stimulus - The unconditioned stimulus is one that
unconditionally, naturally, and automatically triggers a response.
2.
The Unconditioned Response - The unconditioned response is the unlearned
response that occurs naturally in response to the unconditioned stimulus.
3.
The Conditioned Stimulus - The conditioned stimulus is previously neutral stimulus
that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus, eventually
comes to trigger a conditioned response.
4.
The Conditioned Response - The conditioned response is the learned response to
the previously neutral stimulus.
Classical Conditioning
Behaviorists have described a number of different phenomena associated with
classical conditioning.
1.
Acquisition - Acquisition is the initial stage of learning when a response is first
established and gradually strengthened.
2.
Extinction - Extinction is when the occurrences of a conditioned response
decrease or disappear.
3.
Spontaneous Recovery - Spontaneous Recovery is the reappearance of the
conditioned response after a rest period or period of lessened response.
4.
Stimulus Generalization - Stimulus Generalization is the tendency for the conditioned
stimulus to evoke similar responses after the response has been conditioned.
5.
Discrimination - Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned
stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned
stimulus.
Operant Conditioning
Operant conditioning was coined by behaviourist B.F. Skinner. As a
behaviorist, Skinner believed that internal thoughts and motivations
could not be used to explain behavior. Instead, he suggested, we
should look only at the external, observable causes of human
behavior.
"The consequences of behavior determine the probability that the
behavior will occur again"
-B. F. Skinner
Operant Conditioning
1.
Skinner used the term operant to refer to any "active behavior that operates upon the
environment to generate consequences.”
2.
Reinforcement is any event that strengthens or increases the behavior it
follows. There are two kinds of reinforcers:
a.
Positive reinforcers are favorable events or outcomes that are presented after
the behavior. In situations that reflect positive reinforcement, a response
or behavior is strengthened by the addition of something, such as praise
or a direct reward.
b.
Negative reinforcers involve the removal of an unfavorable events or
outcomes after the display of a behavior. In these situations, a response
is strengthened by the removal of something considered unpleasant.
Operant Conditioning
1.
Punishment, on the other hand, is the presentation of an adverse event or
outcome that causes a decrease in the behavior it follows. There are two
kinds of punishment:
a.
Positive punishment, sometimes referred to as punishment by application,
involves the presentation of an unfavorable event or outcome in order to
weaken the response it follows.
b.
Negative punishment, also known as punishment by removal, occurs when an
favorable event or outcome is removed after a behavior occurs.
Operant Conditioning
There are four schedules of partial reinforcement:
1. Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified number
of responses. This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief
pause after the delivery of the reinforcer.
2. Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number
of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling and
lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.
3. Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified
amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the
end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the
reinforcer.
4. Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount
of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response.
Humanistic theories
As matures, finds ways of enhancing his self without
hurting others
Quest for personal
competence
Achievement
Self
Esteem
Humanistic Theories
1.
In humanistic psychology it is emphasized people have free will and they
play an active role in determining how they behave.
2.
Humanistic psychologists try to see people’s lives as those people would
see them. They tend to have an optimistic perspective on human nature
3.
Accordingly, humanistic psychology focuses on subjective experiences of
persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behavior.
4.
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were proponents of humanistic view
Humanistic Theories
The humanistic approach states that the self is composed of concepts unique to
ourselves. The self-concept includes three components:
•
Self worth – what we think about ourselves. Rogers believed feelings of selfworth developed in early childhood and were formed from the interaction of
the child with the mother and father.
•
Self-image – How we see ourselves, which is important to good psychological
health. Self-image includes the influence of our body image on inner
personality.
•
Ideal self – This is the person who we would like to be. It consists of our goals
and ambitions in life, and is dynamic – i.e. forever changing. The ideal self in
childhood is not the ideal self in our teens or late twenties etc.
Hierarchy of needs
Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of
needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" and his
subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy suggests that
people are motivated to fulfil basic needs before moving on to other, more
advanced needs.
Person centered theory
Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist agreed with most of what
Maslow believed, but added that for a person to "grow", they need an
environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and selfdisclosure), acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard), and
empathy (being listened to and understood).
Person centered theory
Rogers identified five characteristics of the fully functioning person:
•
Open to experience: both positive and negative emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not
denied, but worked through
•
Existential living: in touch with different experiences as they occur in life, avoiding prejudging
and preconceptions. Being able to live and fully appreciate the present, not always looking
back to the past or forward to the future
•
Trust feelings: feeling, instincts and gut-reactions are paid attention to and trusted. People’s
own decisions are the right ones and we should trust ourselves to make the right choices.
•
Creativity: creative thinking and risk taking are features of a person’s life. Person does not
play safe all the time. This involves the ability to adjust and change and seek new
experiences.
•
Fulfilled life: person is happy and satisfied with life, and always looking for new challenges
and experiences.