PI610 Lecture Series on personality:
Dr Kerry Hempenstall Ph (61) 9925 7522 Webpage Address http://www.rmit.edu.au/departments/ps/staffpgs/hempens.htm
e-mail address - kerry.hempenstall@rmit.edu.au
LECTURE: 1
(a) Administration
Assessment issues, class and tute behaviour, extensions, etc.
(b) Introduction to Psychology:
What is meant by the science of psychology; The goals of psychology; Who practises psychology?
LECTURE: 2
Introduction to Personality:
Who am I? What am I really like? How can I find out what you are really like? How did we become the way
we are? Definitions of personality
Related terms: character, temperament etc.
Purposes: What is a theory? Why have personality theories?
Major issues: heredity vs environment, personality vs situation, free will vs determinism, uniqueness vs
similarity, mind or matter, Humanity: good or bad?
Is personality theory scientific? Evaluating theories in terms of comprehensiveness, precision & testability,
simplicity (or parsimony), empirical validity, heuristic value, applied value.
LECTURE: 3
(a) Types & Traits
Early typologies: Galen "humors", Gall's phrenology, Sheldon’s somatotypes, Blood typing, Face phrenology,
Pseudosciences and types: palmistry, graphology, astrology
Traits: Allport’s views; Cattell 16 source traits - Core, surface/source.
Big 5: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to new experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness.
Status of the trait approach: Good at description, not so strong on explanation.
(b) Humanism.
Rogers: phenomenology, Self-actualisation; Ideal self, self concept, true self; Unconditional and conditional
positive regard; Conditions of worth; Congruence/incongruence, Q-sort; Organismic valuing process; Theory
strengths & limitations
LECTURE:4
Freud and psychoanalysis
Historical perspective; Determinism; libido, instincts (Eros, Thanatos); conscious & unconscious; id, ego,
superego; ego’s defence mechanisms; psychosexual stages; oral, anal, phallic types; critique.
LECTURE: 5
(a) Behavioural approach
Introduce the role of classical conditioning and operant coditioning
Clarify definitions of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction and punishment - using
examples. Discuss schedules of reinforcement. Discuss the role of habit in explaining “personality”.
(b) Personality Assessment
A consideration of some of the means of assessment employed by the major schools, highlighting how the
tools relate to the personality theory in question. Discussion also explores how personality assessment is used
in various settings.
For reviewing Personality lectures
Read Lefton: pp. 1-4, 18-21, 399-408, 412-425, 430-439.
Look at overheads material on the web (soon!)
Listen to audiotapes of any lectures you missed – obtainable from the Library front desk
Ask questions of your tutors
Sample exam questions on personality will be provided in a tutorial
Know the terms introduced by the theorists.
LECTURE: 1
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Psychology: What is it?
Mainly about the individual person
Untidy and many sided subject
Dependent on the methods of science
Journey into inner space
There is now general acceptance that psychology aspires to being a scientific study of mind and behaviour
(behaviour may be overt or covert). However, much of early psychological theory ) including is not scientific
because it is untestable. For e
"Unlike physics, chemistry or biology, psychology (physiological psychology apart) has not acquired a
common fund of more or less established facts and theories. Disagreements in psychology are so numerous
and deep that, outside of a given subgroup of psychologists, everything of importance seems to be in dispute."
B-A.Scharfstein, 1980, The Philosophers. Oxford: Blackwell.
Goals of Psychology
•
describe
•
understand
•
predict
•
control
What is the nature of the behaviour? (description)
Why does it occur? (understanding)
Can we predict when it will occur? (prediction)
What conditions affect the behaviour? (control)
What is Psychology about? Some varying perceptions
“Psychology is about the mind: the central issue, the great mystery, the toughest problem of all”. Hebb, 1974
“The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best”.
Paul Valery, 1943
“The astonishing hypothesis is that 'you', your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions,
your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of
nerve cells and their associated molecules.”
Crick, F. (1993). The astonishing hypothesis: The scientific search for the soul.
Isaac Asimov made the interesting observation that those things which are to be understood need to be simpler
than those people who understand them. Attempting to understand the workings of the human mind puts man
in the unenviable position of having to use his mind in order to understand its activities. Thus, since the mind
is equal to itself, it may never be understood.
“Seek simplicity and distrust it”. Whitehead
“That is the essence of science: Ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to the pertinent answer.”
Jacob Bronowski
“Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our sense-experience correspond to a logically
uniform system of thought”. Albert Einstein
"Science is built of facts the way a house is built of bricks; but an accumulation of facts is no more science
than a pile of bricks is a house." J.H. Poincar, 1902.
"Psychology, man's self-exploring discipline, is accepted as a science in the anglophone world; but in the
francophone world it is still classed as a branch of philosophy. Many philosophers of science feel that, to earn
its status as a science, a subject must come down out of the philosophical clouds to the earth of solidity, rigour
and number”.
Serebriakoff, V. (1988). A guide to intelligence and personality testing. Carnforth, Lancashire: Parthenon.
Four ways of knowing things
1.
Method of tenacity
2.
Method of authority
3.
Method of intuition
4.
Method of science
LECTURE: 2
Personality:
“The older one gets the more one realizes how saturated life is in mystery, and the biggest mystery of all, it
often seems to me, is the mystery of the human personality”. Susan Howatch, Scandalous Risks.
"Personality is at the heart of the West....Persona is the Latin word for the clay or wooden mask worn by
actors in Greek and Roman theatre. Its root is probably personare, "to sound through or resound": the mask
was a kind of megaphone, projecting the voice to the farthest tiers of spectators. Over time, persona
broadened in meaning to include the actor's role and then a social role or public function. Finally, it defined an
individual under Roman law, as a citizen with rights and duties. We retain this sense in reverse in our
"nonperson," a political victim. By late Latin, persona became a person as we now understand it, a human
being apart from his social status."
Paglia, C. (1992). Sex, art, and American culture. New York: Random House.
The Search For The Best Metaphor
“Personality theories, or models, are metaphors for describing something which is intrinsically indescribable-the human personality. For example, Robert Ornstein (1993, pp. 2-3) writes, "Ideas for personality
classifications...provide everyone from small children to clinical psychiatrists with a routine for classifying
people, one that helps us make sense of ourselves and others. But that's all they do, since one system doesn't
map on to the other.... We need an explanation to get through the day, and that is what most personality-typing
systems provide."
All language, in fact, is metaphor--it is a process by which we express one thing--the complex fabric of people
and their environments--in terms of another--language. We shall never know the entire truth--we can only talk
about it. All our language is about what we experience, but it is not the experience itself. Why, even our
scientific instruments can only approximate a description of the true nature of things. Again, Ornstein says
that even positron emission tomagraphy (PET) scans are not a "'window' to the mind, but merely...a
metaphor." PET scans and personality models are both metaphors for describing the person.
Certainly, some metaphors are more vague than others. A PET scan is less vague than a paper and pencil
questionnaire like the MBTI. The history of the study of personality has been one of minimizing vagueness.
Just as the theory of Carl Jung reduced the vagueness of the theory of humors (which spoke of phlegmatics,
melancholics, sanguines, and cholerics), so Jung's theory will be replaced by a model of personality which is
yet less vague. In a sense, the history of intellectual activity is the story of our efforts to find the "source"
metaphor from which all other metaphors are derived. Just as Latin was the parent, or source, language of all
the romance tongues (such as French and Italian), so all of our personality metaphors (such as Freud's and
Jung's) must have a parent, or source, metaphor that encompasses all the truths of the individually derived
personality metaphors. There is some truth in Jung's theory, Freud's theory, and others' theories, but the
human personality fabric is woven from a far more complex set of fibers than any one theory contains.”
Howard, P.J., & Howard, J.M (no date). The Big Five Quickstart: An Introduction to the Five-Factor Model of
Personality for Human Resource Professionals. [On-Line]. Available: http://www.centacs.com/quik-prt.htm
Personality: Which of the following people have Personality?
Madonna - Sam Newman - Peter Costello - Cathy Perkins - John Howard - Nugget Coombs Dermott Brereton - Prince Charles - Pat Rafter - Pete Sampras. Is charisma a better word?
Personality is commonly understood as what makes a person different from another.
Student responses prompted by the word PERSONALITY
Character, behaviour, inhibitions, tendencies, reactions, traits, charisma, temperament, attitudes, experiences,
dispositions, values, beliefs, morals, habits, demeanour, strength, humour, confidence, arrogance, wit, energy,
warmth, kindness, passion, shyness, magnetism, eccentricity.
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What is this thing called personality?
Where does personality come from? Is it a set of cells in some location in the brain, or even the result of
systems of cells interrelating in various parts of the brain?
Is personality somehow beyond the brain – the way some people view the soul as non-physical?
How important is personality?
How stable is personality?
How and why does it develop and change?
What words do we need to discuss personality?
How does personality go wrong?
What can be done when it goes wrong?
“Theories can be defined as systematic interpretations of an area of knowledge”. Hill (1963)
Criteria for a useful theory
(a)
A means of approaching an area of knowledge.
(b)
A parsimonious summary of knowledge.
(c)
Should also explain observations and pretest future observations.
(d)
Should lead to testable hypotheses.
(e)
Should be logically consistent.
Why develop theories of personality?
•
Individual uniqueness is overwhelming.
•
To explain how observable differences arise.
•
To explore how people adapt to their environment.
•
To add to humans' ability to adapt.
History of Personality
1.
Prescientific era (The Greeks and phrenology)
2.
Clinical era (French influence and psycho-analysis)
3.
Modern Scientific Psychology
Personality: Major Issues
1.
Heredity vs Environment
2.
Personality Vs Situation
3.
Free Will Vs Determinism
4.
5.
6.
Uniqueness Vs Similarity
Mind Vs Matter
Human nature Good Vs Bad
Some Definitions of Personality
1. That which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation (R.B. Cattell)
2. An individual's dynamic organization of those psychophysical systems that determine his or her unique
adjustments to the environment (G. Allport)
3. The more or less stable and enduring organization of a person's character, temperament, intellect, and
physique that determines his or her unique adjustment to the environment (H. Eysenck).
4. A person's unique pattern of traits (J. P. Guilford)
5. The most adequate conceptualization of a person's behavior in all its detail (D. McClelland).
6. The distinctive patterns of behavior (including thoughts and emotions) that characterize each individual's
adaptation to the situations of his or her life (W. Mischel).
7. More or less stable, internal factors that make one person's behaviour consistent from one time to another,
and different from the behaviour other people would manifest in comparable situations. (Child, 1968)
8: An individual's unique and relatively unchanging psychological characteristics and behavior patterns.
Some other terms related to personality:
Character: A subjective evaluation of personality, particularly with regard to a person's desirable or
undesirable qualities.
Temperament: The physical foundation of personality, including prevailing mood, sensitivity, energy levels,
and so forth.
Traits: Relatively permanent and enduring patterns of behavior that a person displays in most situations.
Personality types: Categories used to describe personality, with each category representing a collection of
related traits.
Self-concept: Knowledge of one's own personality traits; a collection of beliefs, ideas, and feelings about
one's own identity.
Personality theory: An interrelated system of concepts and principles used to understand and explain
personality
Temperament: People differ in how sociable, active, impulsive, and emotional they are. These qualities are
probably inherited.
Traits: Qualities on which we differ in our dealings with the world– for example, friendliness, aggressiveness,
generosity.
Assumptions regarding personality: Stability Internality Consistency Individuality
Traits: Broad, enduring, relatively stable characteristics (e.g., sociable, shy, intelligent) used to assess and
explain behaviour. (Hirschberg, 1978)
A variety of questions and views on personality
Where does personality come from? How stable is personality? How and why does it develop and change?
What constructs do we need to discuss personality? How does it go wrong? What can be done about it when it
does?
Every person is in certain respects like all other people, like some other people, and like no other person.
"I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin
"Every individual nature has its own beauty." Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The astonishing hypothesis is that 'you', your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions,
your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behaviour of a vast assembly of
nerve cells and their associated molecules”.
Crick, F. (1993). The astonishing hypothesis: The scientific search for the soul.
“The same fire that melts the butter hardens the egg”. Allport, G.
"The process of personality construction (or the negotiation of identity) takes place throughout the life-span,
building layer upon layer of socially significant actions, which are repeatedly displayed and modified,
producing a series of changing forms ... . Personality is constructed by the dynamic interplay of actors,
observers and self-observers."
Sarah E. HAMPSON, 1992, in A.Gale & M.W.Eysenck, Handbook of Individual Differences. London: Wiley
DePublisher.
"With the possible exception of intelligence, highly generalised behavioral consistencies have not been
demonstrated, and the concept of personality traits as broad response dispositions is thus untenable." Mischel,
W. (1968). Personality and assessment.
"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often, it is not so much the kind of person a
man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act."
Milgram, S. (1974). Obedience to authority. Londo : Tavistock.
"There is a slow trend in psychology in general away from 'personality' as an explanatory variable in favour of
the specificity of behaviour in particular situations."
Hunt, S. (1979). British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18.
"Perhaps the most important issue in current personality theory is the problem of the cross-situational stability
of personality traits."
Lazzerini, A.J., et al. (1979). British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 18.
"....courage is best considered fundamentally as a property of individual acts rather than as a long-term
property of character."
Walton, D.N. (1986). Courage: A philosophical investigation. University of California Press.
3 Ways To Look At Personality and Behavior
Psychodynamic
Emphasizes unconscious impulses, desires, and conflicts; views behavior as the result of
clashing forces within personality; negative, pessimistic view of human nature
Behavioristic
Emphasizes the study of observable behavior and the effects of learning; stresses the
influence of external rewards and punishments; neutral, scientific, and somewhat
mechanistic view of human nature
Humanistic
Focuses on subjective experience, human problems, potentials, and ideals; emphasizes
self-image and self-actualization to explain behavior; positive, philosophical view of
human nature
Lumpers and Splitters
Classically, there are two broad approaches to personality. The 'nomothetic' approach stresses the possibility
of measurement, it emphasises the similarities among people that enable them to be classified as sufficiently
similar as to be classified into a relatively small number of groups. Whereas the 'idiographic' approach stresses
an individual's historical uniqueness. http://www.cycad.com/cgi-bin/Brand/quotes/q02.html
"Every snowflake may be unique. But the success of physics comes from ignoring such features, abstracting
some very general features (such as "mass"), and relating these in powerful generalizations." Dean Peabody,
1985, National Characteristics. Cambridge University Press.
"The nomothetic approach [to personality] finds trait dimensions relevant to everyone and calculates where on
the distribution a particular individual may be located.... The idiographic approach stresses describing each
individual in whatever terms are appropriate for him or her. The description should be derived from a variety
of sources: self-view and views of significant others as well as more objective descriptions of the person's
behaviour...." Sarah E. HAMPSON, 1984, 'The social construction of personality'. In H.Bonarius et al.,
Personality Psychology in Europe.
Some critics of the psychology of personality grant that people do indeed possess their own passably enduring
'personalities'. They concede that behaviour and experience are not simply short-term products of (externally
imposed 'situations'. Yet they are unwilling to see personality as substantially a product of natural forces, the
operation of which can be quantified and expressed in scientific laws (as would have the nomothetic
sympathisers).
Can personality be studied at all usefully by the methods of science? Can we achieve objective knowledge of
personality? Do psychological phenomena have a 'reality' that allows of the usual type of scientific study? Can
personality be 'quantified', 'measured' and 'explained' (by reference to scientific 'laws'), and 'treated' by
interventions affecting 'basic mechanisms and processes', as nomothetic theorists (e.g., Skinner) envisage? Or
can it only be appreciated and understood in the case of each sentient person as the unique, moment-tomoment culmination of complex developmental interactions and discourses that tend erratically yet subtly, via
perspectives and meta-perspectives (many of these embedded inextricably in culture and language), towards
individual self-actualization, recognition of the potency of patriarchy, and rejection of struggle against
oppressive tradition, as idiographic theorists (e.g., Allport) prefer to insist?
"....for too long, psychology has been the convalescent home for refugees from the rigours of the natural
sciences." Paul KLINE, 1979.
Some terms useful in evaluating personality theories
Empirical Validity Parsimony Extensiveness Internal Consistency Testability Usefulness Acceptability
LECTURE: 3
Types:
A typology is a relatively small set of discrete categories into which people can be sorted. You can’t have a
type, you fit a type.
Early typologies:
Theophrastus’ (300BC) 30 character types. Everyone belongs to one of these groups.
Galen (130BC) Body Fluids and Temperament – 4 personality types based upon which bodily fluids are
present in excess.
Melancholic
(Sad, moody)
Choleric
(Quick to anger and action)
Cause: Excess Black
Bile
Cause: Excess Yellow Bile
Phlegmatic
Sanguine
(calm, stolid, indecisive,
weak)
Cause:
Excess phlegm
(Warm hearted, confident)
Cause: Excess blood
Gall (19th Century) Phrenology – He believed that bumps on the head are associated with particular
personality characteristics. No evidence to support the theory.
Sheldon (1940’s) Somatotypes.
He believed that body shape indicates personality type. His theory proposed three basic body types and
associated them with sets of personality characteristics. There is little evidence to support his theory.
ECTOMORPH: thin flat chest, delicate build, young appearance, tall, lightly muscled, large brain. Has trouble
gaining weight. Muscle growth takes longer. Associated personality traits: self-conscious - preference for
privacy - introverted - inhibited - socially anxious - artistic - mentally intense - emotionally restrained.
MESOMORPH: hard, muscular body, overly mature appearance, triangular shaped (broad shoulders, narrow
hips), thick skin, upright posture, gains or loses weight easily, grows muscle quickly. Associated personality
traits: adventurous - desire for power and dominance - courageous - indifference to what others think or want assertive, bold - zest for physical activity - competitive - love of risk and chance.
ENDOMORPH: soft body, underdeveloped muscles, round shaped, over-developed digestive system, trouble
losing weight, generally gains muscle easily. Associated personality traits: love of food - tolerant - evenness
of emotions - love of comfort - sociable - good humored - relaxed - need for affection.
Other pseudoscientific methods: Palmistry (lines on the palms), Graphology (writing style), Numerology
(important numbers), Astrology (position of planets at a person’s birth).
Temperament as determined by blood types:
Takeji Furakawa (1927). A person's personality is determined by his blood type.
Type A:
Cautious, reserved, courteous, and prudent.
Type B:
Artistic, cheery, lively, sociable, considerate, and not materialistic.
Type O:
Composed, dispassionate, strong-willed, self-confident.
Type AB:
Creative and diligent
Research: Taketoshi Takuma (U. of Tokyo) – Found no relationship between personality and blood type, but
found that believers in this stuff are conformist, accepting of the views of authority, and have a strong need to
get on well with others.
Face Phrenology:
Assumption: Facial cell distribution represents brain cell distribution
Traits: Prominent forehead = Sequential thinker; Angled forehead = Action man; Upturned nose = Trusting;
Downturned nose = Inner authority; Convex bridge of nose = Good administrator; Arched eyebrows =
Creative; Eyes close together = Punctual. (The Age 15/4/1996). Evidence to support this approach: Nil
Other Typologies
Neuro-Linguistic Programming - Visual, Kinaesthetic, Auditory types
Enneagram 9 types 144 part questionnaire - Reformer, Helper, Motivator, Artist, Thinker, Loyalist,
Generalist, Leader, Peacemaker
Ayurveda - Deepak Chopra: 3 energies or doshas; 60 statements; Vata: Slim, enthusiastic, prone to anxiety.
Pitta: Medium-build, sharp intellect, hot-headed. Kapha: Tranquil, powerful, tendency to obesity
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 70 questions: 4 functions - Sensing, Thinking, Feeling, Intuition,
2 modes - Judging and Perceiving. 2 types - Extraversion, Introversion
Buddhism: Angry, Desirous, Deluded types
Physiognomy The Samudrika Sastra: If there is no hair on the body of a man, he will be a cheat.
If the second toe of the foot is longer than the big toe, the man will be an enjoyer of women.
"....the relegation of an individual to a type, or to several types, can never do justice to the ineffable
particularity of his individuality." William STERN (the originator, c. 1910, of the concept of 'IQ' [as (Mental
Age / Chronological Age) x 100]). Cited by R.E.Fancher, 1985, The Intelligence Men. New York:
W.W.Norton.
Types viewed as groups
Extraverts
Bill
Jane
David
Mike
Sue
Consider if Types were instead viewed as points on a continuum from high to low
Bill Jane David
High
Extraversion
Mike
Sue
* Tom
Peter
Mary
Jill
A major problem for typologies is that all people fitting into a category are presumed equivalent. Yet we know
that people differ in the amount of any given characteristic that they have in common with others. Thus traits
became popular as a dispositional approach that can relieve this problem.
Traits:
Broad, enduring, relatively stable characteristics (e.g., sociable, shy, intelligent) used to assess and explain
behaviour. (Hirschberg, 1978). Traits represent continuous dimensions. You have a trait to a greater or lesser
degree.
Traits as causes of behaviour
“In its simplest form, dispositions and their behavioural expressions were assumed by definition to correspond
directly: the more a person has a conscientious disposition, for example, the more conscientious the behaviour
will be” p. 414. (Mischel & Shoda, 1995).
"Rather than being a serviceable system, the trait model is, I would suggest, fundamentally flawed in terms of
its ability to come to grips with the issues of personality dynamics and personality pattern and organization."
Lawrence A. PERVIN, 1994, Psychological Inquiry 5.
"A trait psychograph (Allport, 1937) is analogous to a weather report: good for telling you whether to wear a
raincoat, but poor in providing a sufficient explanation of why it might rain."
D.J.Ozer & S.P.Reise, 1994, Annual Review of Psychology 45.
LECTURE: 3 part 2
Humanism
Phenomenology: About each person’s unique perception of events.
 “It is not things in themselves that trouble us, but our opinions of things”. Epictitus
 “We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are”. The Talmud
 “I do not react to some absolute reality, but to my perception of this reality. It is this perception that is for
me is reality”. (Rogers, 1951, p.484).
 Contrast with the science perspective: "Reality is what it is, not what you want it to be" Frank Zappa
 Uninterested in types & traits, or in lifelong personalities.
 Nothing is fixed.
 Does not accept science as the mode of enquiry
 Emphasis on conscious experience
 Only address the past in terms of how perception of the present is affected
Incongruence: Experiences or information (true-self), or feelings (ideal-self) which are inconsistent with our
self-image.
Conditions of Worth: The need for positive regard is powerful. Conditions of Worth develop when a person
feels prized in some respects and not others. They interfere with the Self-Actualising tendency
Sequence of events leading to trouble
Incongruence between True self vs Self image:
Anxiety, defensiveness - Blocking of experiences - Self out-of-touch -No longer accurately perceiving
experience - Confusion, vulnerability, maladjustment, anxiety. Defences of distortion or denial follow. For
example, a college student whose self-concept includes a strong belief in his academic competence and who
fails an examination, may distort this incongruent experience by attributing it to an inept grading system.
(Ewen, 1980).
Incongruence between Ideal self vs Self image
Self-esteem lowered - Social interaction reduced - Helplessness, sadness - Reduced effort, achievement.
About Carl Rogers (1902-1987) adapted from: http://oldsci.eiu.edu/psychology/Spencer/Rogers.html
Core Tendency:
The tendency to actualize one's inherent potentialities. This potential exists in all living organisms, even
plants. Humans possess an additional form - the attempt to actualize the self - called self-actualization. “There
is in every organism, at whatever level, an underlying flow of movement toward constructive fulfillment of its
inherent possibilities. There is a natural tendency toward complete fulfillment in man.” (Rogers, 1977)
II. Core Characteristics:
A. Self: The person's conscious sense of who and what you are. Is available to awareness, although not always
in awareness.
1. Gradually emerges through experiences with verbal labels such as "I" or "Me".
2. Phenomenological Reality: A person's private perception of reality (whether or not it agrees with objective
reality). Experience is the highest authority. If you think you are not good-looking or smart, this is part of your
self concept regardless of reality.
B. Need for Positive Regard: the universal need for acceptance, love, and approval from others. Particularly
important during infancy.
C. Need for Positive Self-Regard: When acceptance and approval come from within the individual and
forms part of the self-concept.
Development
Rogers does not specify any developmental stages, but does make some comments. Of basic importance is the
fact that one's inherent potentialities are genetically determined, while the self-concept is socially determined.
Thus, there is the possibility of a difference between the two. The important influences are:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Conditional Positive Regard: The granting of love and approval only when behaving in accordance
with parent's wishes, or when parents withdraw love if the child misbehaves. This leads to:
Conditions of Worth (similar to superego): the individual's belief that he/she is worthy of affection
only when expressing desirable behaviors.
Incongruence: When there is a split between organismic experience and self-concept. Prevents selfactualization. Leads to defensive behavior. Major defenses: 1. Denial (repression) 2. Distortion
Unconditional Positive Regard: The granting of love and approval regardless of individual's
behavior. Does not mean lack of restraint. If a child runs out in front of a truck, stop him and tell him it
is dangerous, but don't spank him and tell him he is a bad, evil boy. (Rogers is against punishment as a
means of controlling behavior).
V.
Congruence: When the self concept is in agreement with inherent potentialities and there are minimal
conditions of worth. Leads to openness to experience and a fully functioning person.
Periphery of Personality
Rogers discussed only two broad types: one where the self-actualizing tendency is vigorously functioning and
one where it is not.
I.
Fully Functioning Person: The ideal - has received unconditional positive regard, has few conditions of
worth, and has congruence between self & potentialities.
Characteristics:
A. Openness to Experience - opposite of defensiveness. Is reflective and much emotional depth (for both
pleasure and pain).
B. Existential Living: Living fully in each and every moment. The absence of rigidity, is flexible, adaptable,
and spontaneous.
C. Organismic Trusting: 1. Intuitive living: the ability to accept information from all bases. 2. Experience is
the highest authority. If it feels right, it probably is (better than conscious thought - very different from Freud).
D. Experiential Freedom - the freedom to choose among alternatives.
E. Creativity: The ability to produce new and effective ideas and things.
II.
Maladjusted Person: Has received conditional positive regard and developed conditions of worth. There is
incongruence between self and potentialities. Characteristics:
A. Defensive Living - Not open to experience
B. Live According to preconceived plan - generally laid down by parents.
C. Disregards organism - not intuitive
D. Feels manipulated - not free to choose
E. Common and conforming
INCONGRUITY
DEFENSIVE PROCESS
UNSUCCESSFUL
LARGELY
SUCCESSFUL
AWARENESS OF
INCONGRUITY
UNAWARE OF
INCONGRUITY
SELF-INTEGRITY
COLLAPSES
COPE BUT
DEFENSIVE
INFLUENCES ON ADJUSTMENT
When you’ve had only
Conditional Regard:
You’re OK only when you
…
When the SelfActualizing Tendency
rules
(Enhances Organism)
Conditions of Worth rule
your actions: “Maybe I'll
be liked if I ... ”
Organismic Valuing
Process asks “Is this good
for me?”
… ”)
Behaviour:
Let’s do it!
Complete congruence between Self Image, Ideal Self and True Self
Self Image
True Self
Ideal Self
Some Incongruence between Self Image and True Self: Leads to anxiety and defensiveness
Self
Image
True self
Some Incongruence between Self Image and Ideal Self: Leads to low self-esteem
Self
Image
Ideal self
LECTURE: 4
Sigmund Freud (1836-1939)
Man’s chief enemy and danger is his own unruly nature and the dark forces pent up within him.
Ernest Jones (1953). The life and work of Sigmund Freud. It appears Jones practised what he preached - after a
sex scandal he was forced to leave the University of Toronto in 1913.
In our journey from Humanism to Psychoanalysis we descend:
From the heart of Mother Teresa to the crotch of Madonna
From the gentle to the genitals
From free will to determinism
From the bright lights of self actualisation to the darkness of the Id
From the rational to the irrational
From the present to the past
From conscious to the unconscious
Why include so much of Freud in this course on Personality?
 His was the first and most comprehensive model for personality development.
 His immense influence on psychology & psychiatry
 His influence on models of therapy.
Psychoanalysis
 A theory of personality
 Procedures for changing personality
Psychoanalytic theory emphasizes:
 Intra-psychic events
 Unconscious drives
 Early childhood development
4 Major Themes
 Determinism
 Dynamic nature (libido)
 Organizational nature
 Developmental nature
Freud’s evidence for postulating the unconscious as the determinant of most behaviour
1.
Slips of the tongue, forgetting things, jokes.
2.
Dreams and their symbolism
3.
Post-hypnotic suggestions
4.
Free association material
5.
Projective test material
6.
Symbolic content of psychotic symptoms
Two instincts suggested by Freud
Eros and Thanatos: Gods of Life and Death
Eros first - an instinct for sex, food, warmth.
Responsible for art, music – for constructive activities
The energy for such activity is libido
Later, Thanatos (after seeing the effects of World War 1). We are born with an urge to return to inanimacy –
aggression towards the self is redirected by Eros onto others.
Freud’s view of the human mind: The mental iceberg
(90% below the surface)
mental
Conscious level
Thoughts
Perception
Memories
Preconscious
level
Stored Knowledge
Fears
Violent motives
Unacceptable sexual desires
Immoral urges
Unconscious
level
Irrational wishes
Selfish needs
Shameful experiences
The Structure of the Personality
Conscious
The Ego
Superego
Operates
according
to the
Reality
principle
Preconscious
The Id
Operates
according to
the Pleasure
principle
Location of
Eros and
Thanatos
instincts
Unconscious
Relationship between Id, Ego, Superego
Like a fight between a gorilla and a severe school mistress in a dark cellar, supervised by a rather nervous
bank clerk.
"The Ego, driven by the Id confined by the Superego, repulsed by reality - struggles to master its economic
task of bringing about harmony among the forces and the influences working in it and upon it; we can
understand how it is that often we cannot suppress a cry of life is not easy". Freud
Possible conflicts among the aspects of personality
Id versus Ego. Choosing between a small immediate reward anda larger reward which requires some periodof
waiting (i.e., delay of gratification).
Id versus Superego. Deciding whether to return the difference when you are overpaid or undercharged.
Ego versus Superego. Choosing between acting in a realistic way (e.g., telling a "white lie") and adhering to
a potentially costly or unrealistic standard (e.g., always telling the truth).
Id and Ego versus Superego. Deciding whether to retaliate against the attack of a weak opponent or to turn
the other cheek.
Id and Superego versus Ego. Deciding whether to act in a realistic way that conflicts both with your desires
and your moral convictions (e.g., the decision faced by devout Roman Catholics as to the use of contraceptive
devices).
Ego and Superego versus Id. Choosing whether to "act on the impulse- to steal something you want and
cannot afford. The ego would presumably be increasingly involved in such a conflict as the probability of
being apprehended increases.
The Defence Mechanisms of the Ego
Defence mechanisms are Freudian constructs. They were created to help explain individual ego responses to
anxiety. Defence mechanisms are unconscious, meaning that we are not consciously aware of their operation.
They are also individualized - different people use different sets of them. They are normal - meaning that
everybody uses them. It is a means of compromising when the id’superego battles are not readily resolved
outright. However, defence mechanisms do become of clinical interest when they are over-used. When the
ego constantly expends a great deal of libido in defence, there is less energy for other life purposes.
Defence mechanisms are unconscious methods of dealing with the anxiety resulting from a threatened release
of unconscious conflicts into the conscious mind. More generally, they can be seen as a means of dealing with
stress or anxiety. Below is a list of some common defence mechanisms with a short description of each.
Denial
A reality that causes anxiety is simply not perceived. For example, a mother may unconsciously refuse to see
her son's true character because it is too anxiety-arousing. The use of denial may lead to abrupt intrusion of
reality into one's life. The mother above, for example, may receive the news that her son has been arrested for
armed robbery.
Displacement
Displacement is the redirection of energy from a dangerous or forbidden object to a more socially acceptable
one. For example, attraction to a married person may be displaced to some other activity. A classic instance is
playing a musical instrument instead.
Fantasy
Fantasy is the conjuring of an imagined scenario to replace a real one. Imagining one's sexual partner as being
someone else is a fairly common example.
Intellectualization
Intellectualization is treating an emotionally charged situation in a muted or non emotional fashion. For
example, someone who accepts the news of a marital breakup passively and with stoicism may be using
intellectualization.
Projection
Projection is blaming others or other things for one's problems or failures. For example, someone might say,
"The devil made me do it", or blame others for being the cause of a problem.
Rationalization
Rationalization is realizing that one's motives are not always pure or publicly acceptable and substituting
appropriate motives. For example, failing to study because one was "exhausted" rather than "lazy" is an
example. Being lazy is not seen as a socially acceptable motivation.
Reaction formation
Reaction formation is showing the exact opposite of one's true motivation or intentions. (Unconsciously,
remember.) So, saying "I hate you." may indicate love instead. Or, believing that you love to teach may be
necessary after you have spent years preparing and then found out that the only job you could obtain was in a
horrible school with violent students. The choice is to admit your wasted time and energy preparing for such a
job, or to believe that you enjoy it.
Repression
Repression is central to psychoanalysis. It requires that highly anxiety-arousing items be stored deep in the
unconscious, where they will not affect conscious activities. Repressed items, however, may manifest
themselves in dreams or in slips of the tongue. A repressed item is not usually available for recall. Instead, it
may appear later, unexpectedly. For example, I once attempted to recall all of the Fourth of July days I had
spent over a ten-year period, but one was unaccessible to me. A few weeks later, while in the shower, it hit
me. I had been involved in a major family dispute that particular day, and had apparently repressed it.
Regression
Regression occurs when the coping behaviors of an earlier developmental stage reappear. For example, crying
or throwing a tantrum may be used to cope with a stressful event. Typically, we view such behaviors as
inappropriate for adults, and further, as holdovers from an earlier time (childhood) when such behaviors were
more acceptable.
Sublimation
Sublimation is when motives are either sexual or violent, reflecting the psychoanalytic instincts of libido and
thanatos (both will be discussed later), and are redirected into non-instinctual paths. For example, aggressive
motivations may be redirected into the more acceptable framework of games.
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages of Development
Genital Stage
Sexual desire blended with affection; the
capacity for adult love develops
Latency period 6 years to puberty
Sexuality decreases to low levels.
Same sex friendships are strong
Phallic Stage 4 to 6 years
Pleasure focussed on genitals; Oedipal conflict
arises and must be resolved
Anal Stage 1 to 4 years
Pleasure focussed on elimination. Toilet
training - cleanliness, body functions
Oral Stage Birth to 1 year
Pleasure focussed on mouth – receiving food,
chewing, biting, mouthing objects, sucking
The Oral Stage of Personality Development
Freud argued that our adult personality is determined by how successfully we complete these stages. Most
adults leave behind some libido in these stages because they are not completely successful in negotiating
them. They then take on some of the characteristics of the stage that has them fixated.
The oral phase begins at birth and lasts about eight months. It is characterized by the infant's concern for his
mouth and gratification he feels from oral stimuli. The most obvious oral activity the child derives pleasure
from is sucking and eating. Oral stimulation, however, is also produced by engaging in such activities as
biting, swallowing, mouthing objects, and manipulating various parts of the mouth. Freud contended that
these activities are he child's means of fulfilling his sexual urges. Hence, Eros (the life instinct) makes its
appearance. But Thanatos (the death instinct) is also seen since quite frequently children destroy objects they
come in contact with, often by biting them. During this phase, the child's personality is controlled by the id.
He demands immediate gratification of his wants.
The Anal Stage of Personality Development
The anal stage of motivational development is characterized by the child's central area of bodily concern in
the rectum. Bowel movements become a source of pleasure to the child. He may defecate often to achieve this
pleasure. This, however, would bring him into conflict with his parents. The conflict leads the child to develop
an ego. He comes to realize that he cannot always do what he wants when he wants. He learns that there are
certain times when it it appropriate to expel waste and other times when it is inappropriate. He gradually
comes to understand his mother's wishes and abides by them.
The Phallic Stage of Personality Development The child's central interest shifts to the genital region. This
stage is called the phallic phase and lasts from approximately two years of age to age six. Sexual gratification
becomes more erotic during this time as evidenced by the child's masturbation: actual manipulation of the
genitals.
It is during this stage that he phallus acquires a special significance. Freud believed that the increased
awareness in the male of his sexual organs leads him to subconsciously desire his mother. In addition, the
male child grows envious and resentful of his father and wishes to replace him as the object of his mother's
love. The situation is called the Oedipus Complex.
Similarly, a female undergoes a complex wherein she desires her father and rivals with her mother for her
father's affections. This is called the Electra Complex. This complex involves penis envy on the part of the
female child. She believes that she once had a penis but that it was removed. In order to compensate for its
loss, Freud believed the girl wants to have a child by her father. Eventually, however, both the boy and the girl
pass through these complexes. Once this happens, they begin to identify with the parent of their own sex. This
marks the end of the phallic phase and the beginning of a new one.
Phallic Stage (Libido centred on genitals)
Oedipal Conflict (in males only): (In Sophocles play - Oedipus killed his father and married his mother)
Success involves identifying with maleness








Boy lusts for mo.
Boy fears father (castration)
Extreme anxiety produced
Consequences:
Repression of lust for mother
Identification with father
This produces: reduced anxiety, and a fantasy liaison with mother.
Superego develops strongly, because castration anxiety was so strong.
Electra Conflict (in females only) (Greek mythology: Electra was involved in her mother’s murder)
Success involves identifying with femaleness
 Girl lusts after mother
 Notices genital differences between male and female
 Unconsciously assumes Daddy castrated mother, and mother castrated girl
 Girl hates mother - jealous of her relationship
 Girl wants penis (envy) erotically, so identifies with father
But
 Girl anxious about loss of mother’s love
 Changes allegiance and identifies with mother (but still lusts after father inconspicuously)
 Less strong superego because anxiety was less strong. Therefore - women are less moral!!!
The Latency Stage of Personality Development
The period of latency is characterized by indifference to sexually related matters. During this time, the child's
identification with the parent of his own sex becomes stronger. The child imitates his or her behavior -speech, gestures, mannerisms, as well as beliefs and value systems. The child also incorporates more and
more of the beliefs and values of his culture. Thus, the super-ego is developing to a greater extent. (It began to
develop during the late anal and phallic stages. The child comes to distinguish between acceptable and
unacceptable behavior in his society.
The period of latency is also marked by the fact that children seek playmates of their own sex. Boys prefer the
company of boys and consciously avoid girls. Girls prefer contact with other girls and avoid boys. This period
of sexual latency lasts five years, from ages six to eleven.
The Genital Stage of Personality Development
The genital phase is the longest of the five stages. It lasts seven years from ages eleven to eighteen. This
period is similar to the anal stage. There is a renewed interest and pleasure derived from excretory activity. In
addition, masturbation takes place and is engaged in much more frequently at this time than during earlier
stages.
In the beginning of the genital phase, the person seeks associations with members of his own sex just as in the
latency period. But the associations are stronger in the genital phase and Freud believed that they are
homosexual in nature, even though homosexual activity may not take place. As this period progresses,
however, the homosexual tendencies are supplanted by heterosexual ones and toward the latter part of this
phase, the child makes contact and forms relationships with members of the opposite sex.
Also at this time, the superego undergoes further development and becomes more flexible. In the latency
period the superego is quite rigid. The child adopts rules in the most literal sense. During the genital phase, the
individual realizes that some rules are less vital than others. Consequently, his behaviour will reflect this. He
accepts some rules or norms and takes exception to others. Adolescent idealism represents a sublimation of
libido from the self to the community.
Fixation and regression
Fixation is the failure to progress beyond one of the developmental stages, and regression is a temporary
return to the behaviour characteristic of one of the stages when under stress. Incomplete passage through a
stage leads to a personality dominated by characteristics analogous to those of the child in that stage.
The earlier the fixation the more serious the disorder. Freud believed that schizophrenia, paranoia, hysteria,
obsessional neurosis were some of the serious consequences of fixation in any of the first 3 stages. However,
he also thought that few people were very successful at avoiding fixation.
Oral Type: "I Get"
 Narcissistic








Exhausting
Seek security
Fearful of loss
Envious
Jealous
Pessimistic
Rage and depression (when frustrated)
Oral activities (smoke, eats a lot, hand to mouth)
Development of optimism/pessimism as an oral character trait
Time of Fixation
Oral Erotic
(early)
Cause of Fixation
Overindulgence
Passive Optimism:
Believing the world will
always provide for one's needs,
no matter what one does
Frustration
Passive Pessimism
Behaving as if there were
nothing one can do to improve
one's lot in life
Example:
Example
Student doesn't study because
Student doesn't study behe/she expects tests will be
cause he/she feels it is no use;
easy, teacher will understand, etc
nothing can help; will inevitably
.
do poorly
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oral Sadistic
Active Optimism:
Active Pessimism:
(late)
Aggressively taking (in) from
Behaving cynically and hostilely
the world to provide for one's needs
toward perceived harsh world; striking
out at others indiscriminantly
Example
Student studies hard; seeks
extra help; does additional
reading, assignments
Example
Student devotes time to criticising
teachers, classes, exams; attributes
bad grades to the system
The anal character
Anal expulsive (sadistic). Stingy, Cheap; hoarding; withholding (e.g., love) Obstinate, Stubborn; defiant
(including rage and revenge)
Anal compulsive (erotic): Orderly - Body cleanliness; conscientiousness; trustworthiness; attention to details;
neat; careful; systematic
Anal Type: "I Need to Control!"
 Orderliness and cleanliness
 Parsimony and stinginess
 Obstinacy
 Submissive - defiant
 Harsh conscience
 Sensitive to territory
 Oppositional
Phallic Type
 Macho Male (I’ve got the biggest!)
According to Freud - Problems with sex roles identity – inhibition, promiscuity, homosexuality (high
castration anxiety scares him off women forever)
 Hysterical female
Either sexually inhibited or has masculinity complex because of excessive penis envy – continues to identify
with father.
Freud's Additions to the Language of Human Personality
•
Psychological determinism
•
Unconscious, pre-conscious, conscious
•
Libido
•
Eros & Thanatos
•
Pleasure principle, Reality principle
•
Id, Ego, Superego
•
Ego Defence Mechanisms
•
Psycho Sexual Stages of Development
•
Oedipus & Electra complex, Penis envy, castration anxiety
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory:
The most comprehensive of all the theories of personality
But comprehensiveness doesn’t equate to truth
Views on Freud
“As early as the "Studied on Hysteria" Freud showed a rather ominous preference for the plausible but
theoretically neat over the factually uncomfortable” McMahon (1991)
“Psychoanalysis is the most stupendous intellectual confidence trick of the 20th Century”. Sir Peter Medawar
(1975)
“Nothing or almost nothing, in the cultural development of the twentieth century was indifferent to Freud's
work and influence”. Pearson et al (eds.) (1992). Social work and the legacy of Freud.
“The whole edifice of psychoanalysis is merely the product of his over-indulgence with cocaine in the late
nineteenth century”. (Sir Peter Medawar (1975)
“What the new vocabulary which he supplied did was to allow new forms of controversy ... One might even
allow that Freud's work was unscientific, and yet still the conversation would go on - arguably one of the most
important conversations of the modern age”. Pearson et al (eds.) (1992). Social work and the legacy of Freud.
“What he attempted to offer was ... a means to offer a better understanding of art, literature, civilization and
the cultural ordering of our affairs: the formation and structuring of human sexuality and gender; human
aggression, the origins of war and fascism; slips of the tongue; moments of unaccountable forgetfulness;
jokes, fairy stories, mythology; the basis of religious belief”. Pearson et al (eds.) (1992). Social work and the
legacy of Freud.
Freud's controversies in his time
Prevailing Idea
Consciousness is central to personality
"Man" is rational
People's self reports are generally accurate
Behaviour is biologically determined
Freud's Theory
Personality dominated by unconscious forces
Man is driven by deep sexual and aggressive impulses
Self reports are disguised, indirect, symbolic,
misleading
Early experiences control later behaviour
Areas of dispute
Case study data only - open to error
Not real time data - he only wrote what he remembered
Accuracy of patient's stories questionable
Small sample - Freud's few patients were middle class unhappy females
Data analysis subjective
Biological forces shape personality
Sex and aggression the major motivating forces
Deterministic view of us as passive victims
Stress on past behaviour
Emphasis on the disturbed rather than healthy personalities
LECTURE: 5
Behavioural Approaches to Personality
Major Issues
1. Determinism
2. Learning: Relatively enduring changes resulting from experience (reinforcement).
Three types: Cognitive, Motor, Affective
From infancy on we emit a great many behaviours, and those which are reinforced grow stronger, and form
networks and patterns. That is what Skinner means when he refers to personality. For him, personality is no
more than a set of learned behaviour patterns.
“Habit is a cable. We weave a thread of it everyday and at last we cannot break it”. Horace Mann
“Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”. Aesop
“We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few
injustices deeper than the denial of opportunity to serve or even hope, by a limit imposed from without, but
falsely identified as lying within”. Gould, S.J. (1981). The mismeasure of man. pp. 28-29
3. Conditioning
 classical (respondent)
 operant (instrumental)
4. Reinforcement
 Positive, Negative
 Ratio, Interval, Fixed, Variable
5. Extinction & punishment
Contingency
Behavioural
Consequence
Probability of
Behaviour
Example
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Positive
Brings about
Increases
You study for an
reinforcement
something
exam and receive
desirable
an HD, which makes
you more likely
to study in the future.
Negative
reinforcement
Removes
something
undesirable
Increases
You go to the dentist
to have a cavity filled
This eliminates your
toothache, which
makes you more
likely to visit the
dentist in the future
when you have a
toothache.
Extinction
Fails to
brings about
something
desirable
Decreases
You say hello to a
person who
repeatedly fails
to greet you in
return. This leads
you to stop saying
hello.
Punishment
Brings about
something
undesirable
Decreases
You overeat at a
party and suffer
from a severe
upset stomach.
In the future you
become less
likely to overeat.
Lecture 5 (part 2)
Personality Assessment
Through: test data, biographical information, oral reports, or observation
Approaches employed
Objective approach, Projective tests, Situational tests
Personality is a complicated concept, and it is difficult to test. The type of test used to test personality depends
largely on the theory of personality being considered. For example, psychoanalytic theorists would be more
likely to look for personality characteristics using projective tests, while behaviourists look more for the way
someone acts in various situations to determine personality. Some types of tests are: 1. Interviews 2. SelfReport Inventories – pencil and paper tests where people are asked to report on themselves by answering
questions about their feelings and behaviour in various situations 3. Projective Techniques-individuals are
asked to respond to ambiguous stimuli in ways that might reveal their needs, fears and values 4. Behavioural
Assessment strategies-an observer evaluates a person's behaviour in a given situation.
Two critical characteristics of all tests are reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the repeatability and
consistency of test results, and validity refers to the test results’ relationship to the actual psychological
characteristics that the test is supposed to be measuring. A good psychological test must be both reliable and
valid.
Personality Assessment Purposes
1
In mental health settings as an aid in diagnosis, treatment, and residential placement.
2
In educational settings as an aid in formulating proper remediation measures.
3
In legal settings as an aid in court evaluations, such as sanity hearings, as well as assisting the judicial
branch in planning rehabilitation measures
4
In medical settings as an aid in hospital consultation to various clinics in evaluating the psychological
aspects of illness.
5
In psychotherapeutic settings as an aid in planning and evaluating psychotherapy and chemotherapy,
and in offering referring therapists better initial understanding of the client's dynamics and focal
issues.
6
As research and teaching tools for the study of human personality, particularly with special
populations, for example, prisoners and juvenile delinquents.
7
In various evaluations required by law, such as cases involving federal compensation. (Petzelt &
Craddick, 1978)
Type and Trait models often employ Self-Report Inventories
Self-report inventories are the most frequently used type of personality inventory. In self-report inventories,
individuals answer a series of questions about themselves. One of the reasons that this assessment technique is
so popular is because of the belief that people know themselves better than anyone else.
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2) is the most widely used psychological test. It
consists of more than 500 questions about the individual which must be answered with true, false, or cannot
say.
There are a number of other self-report inventories which are used for a variety of purposes. These other tests
include personality tests for normal individuals, such as the California Psychological Inventory; Cattell’s
16PF, the Myers Briggs Type Inventory; sex-role inventories such as the Bem Sex-Role Inventory; value
scales such as the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values; and many more.
One of the other self-report inventories that is gaining popularity is the NEO-PI (neuroticism, extraversion,
and openness personality inventory). The authors of this test take a strong stand on the universal nature of
personality. A trait approach known as the Big Five reduces the 16 factors of Cattell to five. Each of the Big
Five dimensions is like a bucket that holds a set of traits that tend to occur together. The definitions of the five
super factors represent an attempt to describe the common element among the traits, or sub-factors, within
each "bucket". The most commonly accepted buckets of traits are those developed by Costa and McCrae
(1992). It is becoming a popular personality test for normal populations, and it can now be taken in self-report
form or in third-person form, where people can attempt to evaluate others' personalities.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Self-Report Inventories
Self-report inventories are very easy to give, and provide a quick evaluation of personality. It is so easy to use
that it has become somewhat overused. More and more employers are using personality profiles in the hiring
process, which is not what the tests are meant to do.
Faking a Personality Profile
In self-report inventories, it is often obvious which answers are more socially desirable than others. Because
of this, self-reports may become self-presentations, which is not what is meant to be assessed. Some tests such
as the MMPI-2, therefore, contain lie scales which are meant to correct for people trying to make themselves
look either good or bad instead of answering truthfully. The lie scale consists of questions which are designed
to be answered in only one way if a person is telling the truth. Such a question might be "Have you ever told a
lie?" to which everyone should answer "yes." From the lie scale, a correction scale can then be determined,
which will help to correct for people who are attempting to lie on their personality profile.
Humanistic assessment
The Q-Sort is designed to assess the discrepancy of incongruity between the client’s self concept and the
client’s ideal self. Used frequently as a means of assessing therapy success through an improved self concept
and a reduced level of incongruence. 100 cards containing statements like (I make friends easily, I have
trouble expressing anger) are placed initially in piles corresponding to their perceived importance in your
personality. A second set of cards is similarly sorted as they would be if it was your ideal self placing the
cards according to their importance.
Mrs. Oak's perceived self before and after therapy in terms of her chosen most-like-me Q-sort
statements
Self before Therapy: I usually feel driven. I am responsible for my troubles. I am really self-centered. I am
disorganized I feel insecure within myself. I have to protect myself with excuses, with rationalizing
Self 12 months after therapy: I express my emotions freely. I feel emotionally mature. I am self-reliant. I
understand myself. I feel adequate. I have a warm emotional relationship with others.
Psychoanalytic Assessment
Projective Techniques
Psychoanalytic assessment: Techniques intended to reveal unconscious mental processes.
Projective testing: People project their own personality, beliefs and unconscious fears onto ambiguous stimuli.
Therapist interprets the “true” meaning of your projections. Tasks are designed to bypass the ego’s
mechanisms of defence. For example: Rorschach Inkblot Test. Widely used in clinical practice – limited
reliability or validity.
Projective Techniques employing ambiguous stimuli
1. Association (e.g. to words)
For example: Word Association tests:
WHAT WORD COMES TO MIND WHEN I SAY
.Insurance? Chair? Sunset? Television? Charity? Dinner?
2. Construction (e.g. of stories)
Thematic Apperception Test: “tell a dramatic story about the picture – use your imagination”
2. Completion (e.g. of sentences)
For example: A sentence completion test for children.
DIRECTIONS. FINISH THESE SENTENCES TO SHOW YOUR REAL FEELINGS.
1. I like …………2. The best time …………3. My mother …………4. I feel …………5. I can't …………
6.
Other children …………7. I need …………8. My father …………9. This school …………
7.
10. I want …………11. I don't like …………12. I am very …………13. My teacher …………
14. I worry about …………15. I am sorry that …………
4. Expression (e.g. through drawing)
Behavioural Assessment
Behavioural assessment is more likely to involve sampling what a person actually does in a given situation –
thus situational tests are favoured, rather than an emphasis on qualities (or traits) presumed internal to the
individual. Thus assessments have an environmental focus. Fear Schedules or Anxiety Hierarchies may be
developed. Simulated settings for testing the individual’s real-life reactions to situations that are important to
them become the assessment focus.
For reviewing Personality lectures
Read Lefton: pp. 1-4, 18-21, 399-408, 412-425, 430-439.
Look at overheads material on the web
Listen to audiotapes of any lectures you missed – from Library desk
Ask questions of your tutors
Sample exam questions on personality provided on web page
Know the terms introduced by the theorists.
Examine the 6 major issues in personality in relation to each personality school
Personality: Major Issues
1.
Heredity vs Environment
2.
Personality Vs Situation
3.
Free Will Vs Determinism
6.
Uniqueness Vs Similarity
7.
Mind Vs Matter
8.
Good Vs Bad
Personality theory: An interrelated system of concepts and principles used to understand and explain
personality
Temperament: The physical foundation of personality, including prevailing mood, sensitivity, energy levels,
and so forth.
Personality types: Categories used to describe personality, with each category representing a collection of
related traits.
Traits: Relatively permanent and enduring patterns of behavior that a person displays in most situations.
Character: A subjective evaluation of personality, particularly with regard to a person's desirable or
undesirable qualities.
Humanists
Phenomenology
Self-Actualising tendency
Conditions of Worth.
Incongruence
Unconditional Positive Regard
Organismic valuing process
Freud
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Psychological determinism
Unconscious, pre-conscious, conscious
Libido
Eros & Thanatos
Pleasure principle, Reality principle
Id, Ego, Superego
Ego Defence Mechanisms
Psycho Sexual Stages of Development
Oedipus & Electra complex, Penis envy, castration anxiety
Behavioural approaches:
1. Conditioning
 classical (respondent)
 operant (instrumental)
2. Reinforcement
 Positive, Negative
 Ratio, Interval, Fixed, Variable
3. Extinction & punishment
Practice Personality questions (see your tutor for the answers)
1. A major criticism of Freud's theory is that it
a
assumes people have free will.
b
overgeneralizes from case studies.
c
places too much faith in human rationality.
d
views childhood as relatively unimportant to personality development.
2. B. F. Skinner studied how behavior is controlled by
a
heredity.
b
free will.
c
its consequences.
d
unconscious motives.
3. The assumption that human beings can act out of free will is a central concept in
a
behaviorism.
b
biopsychology.
c
psychoanalysis.
d
humanistic psychology
4. According to humanistic psychology, the natural motivation to reach your potential is known as
a
phylogeny.
b
introspection.
c
self-actualization.
d
psychic determinism.
5. The idea that the proper subject matter of psychology should be a person's subjective experience was
supportedby
a
Ivan Pavlov.
b
Roger Sperry.
c
B. F. Skinner.
d
Carl Rogers.
6. Near the end of his life, Carl Rogers lamented that humanistic psychology had little
impact on mainstream psychology, in part because it
a
lacked scientific rigor.
b
was too concerned with sex.
c
likened the human mind to a computer.
d
stressed unconscious motivation instead of conscious experience.
7. _________ involves dealing with psychological problems by changing the way in which individuals think
and act.
a.
biotherapy
b.
psychiatry
c.
psychotherapy
d
behavioural medicine
8. As far as reinforcement for studying is concerned, which of the following is the best behavior modification
technique?
a. Deprive yourself of some attractive reward when you do not keep to your study schedule.
b. Reward yourself only when you have completed an entire task rather than rewarding yourself along the
way.
c. Give yourself immediate, tangible rewards for studying.
d. all of the above
9. George tends to be very passive and allows people to take advantage of him. What would a humanist be
most likely to say about George?
a. George will find it difficult to change because he probably has very deep-seated feelings of inferiority.
b. George can become more assertive once he begins to feel better about himself and recognizes that he has
the ability to fulfill his potential.
c. George simply needs to take an assertiveness training class in which he can learn and practice assertive
behaviors.
d. George needs to enter analysis so that he can begin to resolve whatever unconscious conflict is at the root
of his passivity.
10. Both psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are involved in the treatment of behavioral disorders. They
differ in that:
a. psychiatrists are medical doctors
b. clinical psychologists cannot prescribe drugs
c. their training and orientation tend to be different
d. all of the above
11. A dog learns that immediately after its owner opens the front door on returning home from work, food is
placed in its food dish. The dog eventually salivates in response to the opening of the door. But the owner
changes the dog's feeding schedule, placing food in the food dish an hour after returning home. The dog
gradually stops salivating to the opening of the door. This process is called
(a)
shaping.
(b)
extinction.
(c)
spontaneous recovery.
(d)
spontaneous remission.
12. Determinism is:
(a)
a procedure for assuring that experimental and control groups are equivalent.
(b)
a scientific assumption that every event has physical, potentially measurable causes.
(c)
a means of finding out whether a confounding variable affected the dependent variable.
(d)
a statistical technique for deciding whether research findings are statistically significant.
13. An important tenet of psychoanalysis is the influence of
(a)
free will.
(b)
unconscious motives.
(c)
discriminative stimuli.
(d)
subjective appraisal of reality.
14. B. F. Skinner would be most likely to attribute your desire to pursue a college education to
(a)
your drive for self-actualization.
(b)
an unconscious need to prove yourself.
(c)
your past success in academic courses.
(d)
intellectual interests inherited from your parents.
15. Strict determinism would most likely be rejected by a
(a)
psychoanalyst.
(b)
biopsychologist.
(c)
behavioral psychologist.
(d)
humanistic psychologist.
16. In Pavlov's basic study, a dog salivates in response to meat powder placed on its tongue. A tone is then
presented on several trials just before the meat powder. The dog eventually salivates in response to the tone.
The tone is the
(a)
conditioned response.
(b)
conditioned stimulus.
(c)
unconditioned response.
(c)
unconditioned stimulus.
17. You wear a new jacket and receive many compliments, which makes you more likely to wear the jacket.
This is an example of
(a)
extinction.
(b)
spontaneous recovery.
(c)
positive reinforcement.
(c)
negative reinforcement.
18. The defense mechanism that involves immature behaviors that relieve anxiety in the past is called
(a)
projection.
(b)
repression.
(c)
regression.
(d)
reaction formation.
19. When we give socially acceptable reasons for our inappropriate behavior we are most likely using the
defence mechanism called
(a)
denial.
(b)
rationalization.
(c)
reaction formation.
(d)
intellectualization.
20. According to Freud, the Oedipus complex develops during the
(a)
oral stage.
(b)
genital stage.
(c)
latency stage.
(d)
phallic stage.
21. According to Carl Rogers, personality development is affected by the degree of incongruence between the
self and personal experience, which is affected by the degree of parental
(a)
fixation.
(b)
self-actualization.
(c)
reciprocal determinism.
(d)
unconditional positive regard.
22. With which of the following would a behaviorist agree?
a.
Conscious experiences can be studied in an objective, precise way.
b.
In order to understand behavior, one must understand the motives behind the behavior.
c.
Behavior can only be explained in terms of phenomenology, that is, an individual's interpretation of
experience.
d.
Psychology should be the science of behavior that can be observed by others.
23. The theoretical orientation that insisted on verifiability of observation was
a.
structuralism
b.
functionalism
c.
behaviorism
d.
psychoanalysis
24. What was behaviorism's main objection to the study of consciousness?
a.
It is not directly observable.
b.
It does not directly affect behavior.
c.
It suffers from a lack of theoretical development.
d.
all of the above
25. Which approach is most responsible for the rise of animal research in psychology?
a.
psychoanalysis
b.
behaviorism
c.
humanism
d.
cognitive psychology
26. Strict behaviorists would be most sympathetic to which one of the following statements?
a. Human behavior is primarily caused by inherited factors.
b. Human behavior is primarily caused by environmental factors.
c. Human behavior is primarily caused by equal contributions of inherited and environmental factors.
d. No one really knows what the primary causes for human behavior are.
27. The major departure of Freud's position from prevailing viewpoints around the early 1900s was that:
a. he saw abnormal behavior as treatable and thought people need not be institutionalized
b. he saw people as not fully aware of the forces that control their behavior
c. he proposed the existence of free will
d. all of the above
28. People resisted psychoanalysis for all but which one of the following reasons?
a. It emphasized sex.
b. It suggested that people are often not aware of the motives behind behavior.
c. It tried to be too scientific.
d. It appeared to be too subjective.
29. Which of the following statements about Freud's psychoanalytic theory is most accurate?
a. Freud's position has been basically abandoned and exerts relatively little, if any, influence on current
mainstream psychology.
b. Freud's position exerts a tremendous influence on all areas of current mainstream psychology.
c. Freud's position exerts a tremendous influence on work in the area of developmental and abnormal
psychology but not any other area of mainstream psychology.
d. None of the above is accurate.
30. One of the most controversial and upsetting aspects of Freud's theory was:
a. the collective unconscious
b. the concept of self-actualization
c. the concept of the Freudian slip
d. his emphasis on sexuality
31. Which group of psychologists would stress individual uniqueness, freedom, and potential for growth as a
person?
a. behaviorists
b. psychoanalysts
c. humanists
d. Gestaltists
32. Which theoretical viewpoint is most closely associated with Carl Rogers?
a. cognitive approach
b. humanism
c. structuralism
d. biological approach
33. Which of the following characteristics is not associated with humanism?
a. the belief that humans are unique
b. the belief that humans and other animals share a series of qualities
c. the belief that humans have an upward drive toward personal growth
d. none of the above
34. Humanists believe that people's behavior is governed by:
a. their self-concepts
b. unconscious sexual urges
c. the outcomes of their responses
d. biochemical processes