Chapter 15 pt. 2: Personality and
the Trait, Humanistic, and Social
Cognitive Perspectives
Pg. 513 picture
 The
The Trait Perspective
father of the trait
perspective of personality is
Gordon Allport.
 The trait perspective looks to
DESCRIBE personality in
terms of fundamental traits:
pattern of behavior or
disposition to feel or act as
assessed by self-reported
inventories or peer reports.
Myers –Briggs Type Indicator
 126
questions which ask patients
for preferences
 Example- Feeling or Thinking
Type
 Used in the business world


Method used For Measuring
Personality for Trait Perspective
 Personality
Inventory: a questionnaire
that is usually true/false in which people
respond to items designed to gauge a
wide range of feelings and behaviors;
used to assess selected personality traits.
 Weakness of This Measuring Device?
Example of Personality Inventory
 Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality
Inventory: most widely used personality
test. Purpose was to identify emotional
disorders but is also now used for
screening purposes for employment.
 Test is an example of being empirically
derived test: having pool of test
questions that discriminate between
groups. (Ex: Certain questions
Depressed vs. Normal were likely to
answer differently)
Self Reports
 Most
widely used method
 Simply asking friends and
family about you
Dimensions of Personality
 Through
UNSTABLE
Moody
Touchy
Anxious
Restless
Rigid
Aggressive
Sober
Excitable
Pessimistic
Changeable
Reserved
Impulsive
Unsociable
Quiet
Optimistic
Active
melancholiccholeric
INTROVERTED
EXTRAVERTED
phlegmatic sanguine
Passive
Careful
Sociable
Outgoing
Thoughtful
Talkative
Peaceful
Responsive
Controlled
Easygoing
Reliable
Lively
Carefree
Even-tempered
Calm
Leadership
STABLE
factor
analysis, the
Ensencks identified
dimensions of
personality were as
introverted (keep
to yourself)/
extroverted
(outgoing) and
stable/unstable.
The Big Five Expands Upon The
Dimensions of Personality
The “Big Five” Personality Factors
Trait Dimension
Description
Emotional Stability
Calm versus anxious
Secure versus insecure
Self-satisfied versus self-pitying
Extraversion
Sociable versus retiring
Fun-loving versus sober
Affectionate versus reserved
Openness
Imaginative versus practical
Preference for variety versus
preference for routine
Independent versus conforming
Soft-hearted versus ruthless
Trusting versus suspicious
Helpful versus uncooperative
Organized versus disorganized
Careful versus carel
Disciplined versus impulsive
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness




Big 5 Research Explores These
Questions
1. How Stable are these Traits?
 In adulthood quite stable
2. How heritable are they?
 About 50%
3. How well do they apply to other cultures?
 Reasonably well
4. Do the Big Five traits predict other personal
attributes?
 Yes
 Highly conscientious people tend to also be
morning people
Evaluating the Trait Perspective
 Person-Situation
Controversy
 Traits exist. We differ. And our
difference matter
 Averages in traits are consistent
 Consistency
of Expressive Style
 Traits ( level of expressiveness) can
remain hidden
 But in most situations a person’s true
personality will come through
The Humanistic Perspective
 The
two founders of the
Humanistic Perspective are
Abraham Maslow and Carl
Rogers.
 The Humanistic
Perspective focuses on the
growth potential of healthy
people. They focus on the
power of free will and how
people view themselves as a
whole in pursuit of growth.
Maslow
Rogers
Maslow’s Main Idea
 1.
Self Actualization: ultimate
goal in hierarchy of needs; meet
one’s potential.
Carl Rogers’ Person Centered
Approach
 Believed
all humans had potential for
growth; just need climate that has:
–Genuineness (truthful/sincere)
–Acceptance (unconditional positive
regard)
–Empathy (try to understand others)
 Unconditional
Positive
Regard:
attitude of total acceptance towards
another person.
Humanistic Perspective’s Central
Concept to Understanding Personality

Self-Concept: all thoughts and feelings about
ourselves: “Who am I?”
 Related
terms to understand Self
Concept:
–Self Esteem: feelings of selfworth.
–Self-Serving Bias: a readiness to
perceive oneself favorably.
Criticism of Humanist
Perspective
 Maslow’s
concepts are vague and
might just be his own values.
 Too much focus on individual.
 Ignores human capacity for evil.
Warm Up
1. Describe the Trait Theory
 2.Describe the MMPI Test (Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
 3.Describe the Myers Brigg Test
 4. List one criticism of the Trait Theory
 5.Describe the Humanistic Perspective
 6. What does it mean to be self-actualized?
 7.Describe Unconditional positive regard
 8. List one criticism of the humanistic
perspective

Astrology and Palm Readings
 1996-
300 million dollars on
psychic hotlines

Palm reading, horoscopes and
handwriting analysis DO NOT
WORK

Astrology and Palm Readings
How do they do it?
– 1. People are similar in many ways – “ I
sense you’re nursing a grudge against
someone”
– 2.The Barnum Effect-ppl have a strong
tendency to believe that traits apply
specifically to them especially if these traits
are favorable and stated in a general way
– 3. They read our clothing, physical features,
nonverbal gestures and reactions to what
we say
– 4. John Edwards- “Throws many things at
the wall, sees what sticks and goes with it”
Social –Cognitive
Approach
Social Cognitive Perspective
 Father
of Social Cognitive
Perspective is Albert
Bandura.
 Social Cognitive
Perspective: emphasizes
the importance of external
events (society) and how we
interpret them (cognition).
–Conditioning
–Modeling
Personality is Made Up of
Interlocking Forces
 Reciprocal
Determinism: is the idea
that environment influences personality
AND personality influences the
environment.
 Same environment can have completely
different effects on different people
because of how they interpret and react
to external events.
– You choose your environment and it then
shapes you
Social Cognitive Perspective
Focuses on Personal Control
 Personal
Control: sense of controlling
the environment rather than feeling
helpless.
 Study Personal Control in 2 ways:
– 1. Correlates ppls feelings of control with
their behaviors and achievements
– 2. Experiment- raise and lower ppls sense
of control and rate the effects
Locus of Control
 Achievement
is
highest when
people have:
 Internal Locus of
Control: idea
that one control’s
their own
destiny.
External Locus of Control Can
Lead to Learned Helplessness
 External
Locus of Control: perception
that chance or outside forces beyond
one’s personal control determines one’s
fate.
 Learned Helplessness: hopelessness
and passive resignation an animal or
human learns when unable to avoid
repeated aversive events.
 Ex: Dog being uncontrollably shocked for
period; will not later escape when time
arrives.
Optimism
 Do
you view
yourself as
optimistic or
pessimistic?
 Optimistic ppl are
more productive,
health and happy
 Excessive
optimism can be
bad
Evaluating the Social
Cognitive Perspective
 Most
widely accepted approach
by current psychologists since it
takes aspects from learning and
cognition.
 Criticized by some because it fails
to consider possible unconscious
motives and focuses too much on
environment not enough on inner
traits.
 Possible
Exploring the Self
Selves
–Visions and goals we have for
ourselves
–Dreams led to achievements
 Spotlight Effect
–PPl are less aware of us than we think
 Self Esteem–PPl who feel good about themselves
are better off
–Low Self Esteem comes in a variety of
Exploring the Self
 Self
Serving Bias
– Our readiness to perceive ourselves
favorably
 People accept more credit for goods
things more than bad things
 Most ppl see themselves as better
than average
 Survey Question: Who is most likely to go
to heaven? Who beats out Princess
Diana, Gandhi, MLK Jr., and Mother
Theresa?
Exploring the Self
 If
Self Serving Bias
prevails why do ppl put
themselves down?
1. Strategy for
compliments
2. Prepare for possible
failure
3. Pertains to “old”
self
Individualism vs. Collectivism
 Individualism
–giving priority to one’s own goals over
group goals and defining one’s identity
in terms of personal attributes rather
than group identifications
 Collectivism
–giving priority to the goals of one’s
group (often one’s extended family or
work group) and defining one’s identity
accordingly
Value Differences
Know Summary of
Perspectives: