Personality
What is Personality?
 People differ from
each other in
meaningful ways
 People seem to show
some consistency in
behavior
Personality is defined as distinctive
and relatively enduring ways of
thinking, feeling, and acting
Personality
• Personality refers to a person’s unique and
relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings,
and actions
• Personality is an interaction between biology
and environment
– Genetic studies suggest heritability of personality
– Other studies suggest learned components of
personality
Four Theories of
Personality
1. Trait
2. Psychoanalytic
3. Humanistic
4. Socio-Cognitive
The First Trait Theory
Moody
Anxious
Rigid
Sober
Pessimistic
Reserved
Unsociable
Quiet
UNSTABLE
Touchy
Restless
Aggressive
Excitable
Changeable
Impulsive
Optimistic
Active
melancholic choleric
INTROVERTED
EXTRAVERTED
phlegmatic sanguine
Passive
Sociable
Careful
Outgoing
Thoughtful
Talkative
Peaceful
Responsive
Controlled
Easygoing
Reliable
Lively
Carefree
Even-tempered
Leadership
Calm
STABLE
• Two Factor Trait
Theory of Personality
Personality Traits
• Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal
characteristics
• Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be
described on the basis of some number of personality
traits
– Allport identified some 4,500 traits
– Cattel used factor analysis to identify 30-35 basic traits
– Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits in personality
• Extraversion/introversion
• Neuroticism
• Psychotocism
Allport
Overview of the Big “5”
Assessing Traits: An
Example
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
– the most widely researched and clinically used of
all personality tests
– developed to identify emotional disorders
MMPI: examples
• “Nothing in the newspaper interests me
except the comics.”
• “I get angry sometimes.”
Evaluating Trait Theory
• Trait theory, especially the Big 5 model, is able to
describe personality
– Cross-cultural human studies find good agreement for the
Big 5 model in many cultures
– Appear to be highly correlated not only in adulthood, but
also in childhood and even late preschoolers
– Three dimensions (extraversion, neuroticism and
agreeableness) have cross-species generality
• Problems with trait theory include:
– Lack of explanation as to WHY traits develop
– Issue of explaining transient versus long-lasting traits
Psychoanalytic Theory
• Psychoanalytic theory, as devised by Freud,
attempts to explain personality on the basis of
unconscious mental forces
– Levels of consciousness: We are unaware of some
aspects of our mental states
– Freud argued that personality is made up of multiple
structures, some of which are unconscious
– Freud argued that as we have impulses that cause us
anxiety; our personality develops defense
mechanisms to protect against anxiety
Freudian Theory
 Levels of
consciousness
 Structures of
Personality
– Conscious
• What we’re aware of
– Preconscious
– Id
• Operates according to
the “pleasure principle”
• Memories etc. that can – Ego
be recalled
• Operates according to
the “reality” principle
– Unconscious
– Superego
• Wishes, feelings,
impulses that lies
• Contains values and
beyond awareness
ideals
Freudian Theory
 Anxiety occurs when:
– Impulses from the id threaten to get out of
control
– The ego perceives danger from the environment
 The ego deals with the problem through:
– coping strategies
– defense mechanisms
Defense Mechanisms
• Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental
processes that protect the conscious person from
developing anxiety
– Sublimation: person channels energy from unacceptable
impulses to create socially acceptable accomplishments
– Denial: person refuses to recognize reality
– Projection: person attributes their own unacceptable
impulses to others
– Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are pushed into the
unconscious
Defense Mechanisms
• Rationalization: Substituting socially acceptable reasons
• Intellectualization: Ignoring the emotional aspects of a
painful experience by focusing on abstract thoughts,
words, or ideas
• Reaction formation: Refusing to acknowledge
unacceptable urges, thoughts or feelings by exaggerating
the opposite state
• Regression: Responding to a threatening situation in a
way appropriate to an earlier age or level of development
• Displacement: Substituting a less threatening object for
the original object of impulse
Assessing the Unconscious
• Projective Tests
– used to assess personality (e.g., Rorschach or
TAT tests)
– How? provides ambiguous stimuli and subject
projects his or her motives into the ambiguous
stimuli
Assessing the Unconscious -Rorschach
• Rorschach Inkblot Test
– the most widely used
projective test
– a set of 10 inkblots designed
by Hermann Rorschach
Rorschach
Assessing the Unconscious-Rorschach
used to identify
people’s inner
feelings by
analyzing their
interpretations
of the blots
Assessing the
Unconscious--TAT
Thematic
Apperception
Test (TAT)
• people express
their inner
motives through
the stories they
make up about
ambiguous
scenes
Psychoanalytic
Neo-Freudian
 Alfred Adler
– Humans are motivated by social interest
– Takes social context into account
– First Born
• Privileged until Dethroned
– Second Born
• In shadow of 1st Born  inferiority, restlessness
– Youngest
• Pampered, dependent
– Only Child
• Higher intellect, timid, passive, & withdrawn
Psychoanalytic
Neo-Freudian
 Carl Jung
– A collective unconscious is represented
by universal archetypes
– Two forms of unconscious mind
• Personal unconscious: unique for each person
• Collective unconscious: consists of primitive
images and ideas that are universal for humans
Humanistic Theory
• Humanistic personality theories reject
psychoanalytic notions
– Humanistic theories view each person as
basically good and that people are striving for
self-fulfillment
– Humanistic theory argues that people carry a
perception of themselves and of the world
– The goal for a humanist is to develop/promote a
positive self-concept
Humanistic Perspectives
 Carl Rogers
– We have needs for:
• Self-consistency (absence of conflict between selfperceptions
• Congruence (consistency between self-perceptions
and experience)
– Inconsistency evokes anxiety and threat
– People with low self-esteem generally have poor
congruence between their self-concepts and life
experiences.
Humanistic Perspectives
▲Abraham Maslow
emphasized the basic
goodness of human nature
and a natural tendency
toward self-actualization.
Social/Cognitive Perspective
• Proposed that each person has a unique
personality because of our personal histories and
interpretations shape our personalities
▲Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive approach
focuses on self-efficacy and reciprocal
determinism.
▲Julian Rotter’s locus of control theory emphasizes
a person’s internal or external focus as a major
determinant of personality.
Locus of Control (Rotter)
 Internal locus of control
– Life outcomes are under personal control
– Positively correlated with self-esteem
– Internals use more problem-focused coping
 External locus of control
– Luck, chance, and powerful others control
behavior