Personality Theory and Assessment Notes:
Personality: A person’s unique and relatively stable behavior patterns…the consistency of
who you are, who you have been, and who you will become.
This chapter is very heavy on terminology…
Character: Personal characteristics that have been judged or evaluated; a person’s desirable
or undesirable qualities
Temperament: Hereditary aspects of personality. Includes sensitivity, moods, irritability and
adaptability
Personality Trait: Stable qualities that a person shows in most situations
Personality Type: People who have several traits in common
Common Traits: Characteristics shared by most members of a culture
Individual Traits: Define a person’s unique individual qualities
Cardinal Traits: Are so basic that all of a person’s activities can be traced back to the trait
Central Traits: Core traits of a personality
Secondary Traits: Inconsistent or superficial traits
Source Traits: Underlying traits of a personality
Behavioral Personality Theory: Model of personality that emphasizes learning and observable
behavior
Learning Theorist: Believes that learning shapes our behavior and explains personality
SIGMUND FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYSIS
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Psychoanalysis is the term Freud used for his theory of personality and his therapy for the
treatment of psychological disorders.
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The three levels of awareness in consciousness are the conscious, the preconscious, and
the unconscious.
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The id is the primitive, unconscious part of the personality, which contains the instincts
and operates on the pleasure principle. The ego is the rational, largely conscious system,
which operates according to the reality principle. The superego is the moral system of the
personality, consisting of the conscience and the ego ideal.
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A defense mechanism is an unconscious, irrational means that the ego uses to defend
against anxiety and to maintain self-esteem; it involves self-deception and the distortion
of reality. We talked about this a little bit in the last lesson.
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Through repression, (1) painful memories, thoughts, ideas, or perceptions are
involuntarily removed from consciousness, and (2) disturbing sexual or aggressive
impulses are prevented from breaking into consciousness.
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Freud believed that the sexual instinct is present at birth and develops through a series of
psychosexual stages, and providing the driving force for all feelings and behaviors. The
stages are the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage (followed by the latency period), and
genital stage. During the phallic stage, girls and boys develop their gender identity. He
also believed that girls have “penis envy”…that they feel inferior because they don’t have
a penis. Okay, you can all stop laughing now! It sounds pretty silly to me, too.
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The Oedipus complex, occurring in the phallic stage, is a conflict in which the child is
sexually attracted to the opposite-sex parent and feels hostility toward the same-sex
parent. I always wondered what his relationship with his mother was like! 
Freud was a Viennese (Vienna is in Austria… “the hills are alive…”) physician who thought his
patients’ problems were more emotional than physical. He began his work by using
hypnosis and eventually switched to psychoanalysis. He emphasized unconscious forces
and conflicts. Freud used cocaine and tobacco and died from oral cancer. More than 100
years later his work is still influential and very controversial.
Sigmund Freud thought almost everything revolved around sex! Since he postulated his
theories so long ago, take them with a grain of salt.
Levels of Consciousness
In Freud’s view, the mind functions on three levels. The conscious level is somewhat like
short-term or working memory. It includes all the thoughts and feelings we are currently
experiencing. The preconscious contains everything we know and feel but are not currently
thinking about or experiencing. An important point is that we have ready access to the
preconscious. By contrast, the unconscious includes knowledge and feelings that are not
readily accessible. Information and emotions are held in the unconscious, Freud claimed,
when they are too threatening or unpleasant for us to face.
Id, Ego, and Superego
The three parts of personality in Freud’s theory are the id, ego, and superego, represented by
the mostly submerged iceberg above.
•Id (operates on pleasure principle). The id, present at birth, is entirely unconscious,
consists of primary drives and emotions, and is self-serving and irrational . It operates
according to the “pleasure principle” (primary process thinking). This is where
uncontrollable rage and lust reside. It wishes to have it’s desires satisfied NOW,
without waiting and regardless of the consequences.
•Ego (makes rational decisions). The ego, developed in the first two years of life, is
conscious and rational. Its job is to satisfy the needs of the id without regard to the
needs of others or the standards of society. Thus, the ego operates according to the
“reality principle” (secondary process thinking).
•Superego (conscience or moral self). The superego represents the moral standards
of the larger culture and develops between ages 3 and 6. It includes the conscience
(“thou shalt not…”) and ego ideal (“thou shalt…”). Violations of the conscience result
in guilt, while violations of the ego ideal produce shame. Obedience to both produces
pride. Through its ability to induce the id to experience unpleasant (guilt and shame)
and pleasant (pride) emotions, the superego is able to regulate the behavior of the
ego.
The ego’s responsibility is to keep the id happy. For instance, stealing food might satisfy the
id’s hunger, but it would also cause the id to experience guilt and shame. The ego has to
balance the id’s primary drives against its capacity to experience moral emotions. However, a
superego that is too strict can cause the id to feel unnecessary guilt or shame. Likewise, a
superego that is too lax can result in excessive antisocial behavior.
Here is a story to illustrate this... The setting of the story is a bar where a person sees an
attractive member of the opposite sex. The id wants sexual gratification right then and there,
no matter what the consequences. The superego, of course, prohibits it because it is wrong.
The ego, working to satisfy the id, must develop a strategy that acknowledges the constraints
of reality. Therefore, the ego has a plan to ask the person to dance, buy the person a drink, or
start up a conversation with an opening line. Freud's interpretation of this dilemma would
involve the id pushing for sexual activity at any opportunity, while the superego favors
abstinence because of parental, society, and religious influences. Freud would further
interpret this situation as the ego being caught in the middle of this conflict, with strong
pressures both to engage in and to avoid sexual behavior. He ego is always caught in the
middle of battles between superego’s desires for moral behavior and the id’s desires for
immediate gratification.
Drive: Any stimulus strong enough to goad a person into action (like hunger)
Neurotic Anxiety: Caused by id impulses that the ego can barely control
Moral Anxiety: Comes from threats of punishment from the superego
Defense Mechanisms
According to Freud, the ego devises cognitive strategies for coping with unpleasant emotions
in the id. He called these strategies “defense mechanisms.” The chart shows the main eight
mechanisms, but, in fact there are many. If you’d like to learn more, see this website:
http://www.coldbacon.com/defenses.html
Psychosexual Stages
Freud claimed that psychosexual development proceeds in stages. In each stage, the libido
(desire for physical pleasure) is focused on a different part of the body. The stages take their
names from the respective body parts on which each focuses: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and
genital. The one stage that doesn’t fit the naming pattern is latency. In addition to deriving
pleasure from a particular body part, each stage has an associated developmental task which is
the basis for a conflict between the desires of the id and the demands of society. When the task
is accomplished poorly, fixation (age-inappropriate behaviors) result. Everyone goes through
same stages in same order. The majority of personality traits are formed before age 6.
•Oral Stage: Ages 0-1. Most of infant’s pleasure comes from stimulation of the mouth.
If a child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
Oral Dependent Personality: Gullible, passive and need lots of attention.
Fixations create oral-aggressive adults who like to argue and exploit others.
•Anal Stage: Ages 1-3. Attention turns to process of elimination (urination and
defecation). Child can gain approval or express aggression by letting go or holding on.
Ego develops. Harsh or lenient toilet training can lead to:
Anal Retentive: Stubborn, stingy, orderly, and compulsively clean.
Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive, or cruel.
“The Odd Couple” seems to be based on these anal personality types!
•Phallic Stage: Ages 3-6. Child now notices and is physically attracted to opposite sex
parent. Can lead to:
Oedipus Conflict: For boys only. Boy feels rivalry with his father for mother’s
affection. Boy may feel threatened by father (castration anxiety…he’s afraid
his father will punish him by cutting off his penis!). To resolve, boy must
identify with his father, i.e. become more like him and adopting his
heterosexual beliefs.
Electra Conflict: Girl loves her father and competes with her
mother. Girl identifies with her mother more slowly because
she already feels castrated (penis envy).
Both concepts are widely rejected today by most psychologists.
But we still use the phrases “mama’s boy” and “daddy’s girl”.
•Latency: Ages 6-Puberty. The libido is latent, or hidden, during this stage as children
focus on identifying with same-sex peers.
•Genital Stage: Puberty-on. Realization of full adult sexuality occurs here; sexual urges
re-awaken.
So…
It should be pointed out that Freud does not loom as large today as in decades past. But even
though Freud was said to be intolerant toward any diversity of perspectives on psychoanalysis
(Slipp, 1999), he has been a towering figure in the world of psychology. Even today when
members of the general public are asked to name a famous psychologist, it is still Freud's name
that most readily comes to mind (Stanovich, 1996). Psychodynamic personality theories have
been soundly criticized by behaviorist and others as lacking testability, being based on
inadequate evidence, and being sexist. Why, despite these criticisms, do you think the
psychodynamic approach has been such a powerful force in psychology? Psychology often
portrays itself as scientific, so how can it use these unscientific therapy methods?
Erogenous Zone: Area on body capable of producing pleasure
Fixation: Unresolved conflict or emotional hang-up caused by overindulgence or frustration
The next three slides will address the Neo-Freudians, the theorists who took Freud’s theories
and saw them with a new perspective. Freud disagreed with them, but many people today
find they resonate more closely than Freud did.
Carl Jung
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist, believed that we are one of two personality types:
•Introvert: Shy, self-centered person whose attention is focused inward
•Extrovert: Bold outgoing person whose attention is directed outward
Jung conceived of the personality as having three parts: the ego, the personal unconscious,
and the collective unconscious.
•Ego: conscious component of the personality.
•Personal Unconscious: develops from one’s own experience.
•Collective Unconscious: contains universal experiences from humankind. This
would include a universal fear of snakes, for example. The Collective Unconscious
was the subject of the movie “Altered States (1980)” with William Hurt.
Jung’s work has an Eastern philosophy feel to it – very different from the Westernized view
of Freud.
Archetypes and Heroes
According to Jung, one important influence on personality is the archetype (inherited
tendency to respond to situations in specific ways). One such tendency is the need to have
heroes. The “Star Wars” movies borrowed heavily from Jung’s archetypes: The Reluctant
Hero (Han Solo), The Sage (Obi Wan), The Prodigy (Luke), and The Shadow (Darth Vader).
Terms…
•Persona: Mask or public self presented to others
•Anima: Archetype representing female principle, which resides in both men and
women
•Animus: Archetype representing male principle, which resides in both men and
women
•Mandala: Circular design representing balance, unity and completion, which is
symbolized in every culture. Seen in the yin/yang symbol. Can mean the balance of
the anima and animus, the balance of good and evil, or any set of opposites.
•Self Archetype: Represents unity and balance
Alfred Adler disagreed with Freud’s emphasis on unconscious and on importance of sexuality.
He claimed that the predominant force of the personality is the drive to overcome and
compensate for feelings of weakness and inferiority and to strive for superiority or
significance. See the visualizaion of his theory at Adler Institute.
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Organ Inferiorities: Physiological defects that can trigger strong feelings of inferiority. In
other words, you feel self-conscious about a scar, big nose, or small breasts.
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Inferiority complex. Exaggerated and pathological feelings of weakness, including belief
that one can not overcome one's difficulties through appropriate effort. This goes
beyond simply feeling inferior, which is normal and everyone has inevitable feelings of
weakness, resulting from our helplessness during childhood.
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Compensation: The process of overcoming real or imagined inferiority through effort and
practice, or by developing abilities in different areas.
Positive Compensation: always healthy, and within a larger social context.
Overcompensation: carried to an extreme. Unproductive for the individual or society.
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Superiority complex. A false feeling of power & security that invariably conceals an
underlying inferiority complex. From attempt to evade one's problems rather than face
them.
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Individual develops own “Style of Life”. Check out the link to the Adler Institute for a nice
graphic and description of his Style of Life Tree. The unique ("Individual") mode of
adjustment to life that influences almost everything a person does.
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Creative Self. Humans create their personalities through choices and experiences.
Adler does not have a stage approach. He says that adult lifestyles are influenced by
temperament, family atmosphere, and birth order. We all strive for Superiority, the basic
drive to help us towards perfection.
1. Karen Horney turned Freud’s theories upside down. Where Freud’s theories were
phallocentric (centered on the penis), Horney’s theories were considered gynocentric
(centered on the womb). She took issue with Freud's sexist view of women and added
the feminine dimension to the world of psychology. Horney introduced the notion of
parental influence into psychological development.
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Centered on neurotic personality and feminine psychology.
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Believed that men and women, to be psychologically healthy, had to learn to
overcome the irrational belief about the need for perfection.
2. Nancy Chodorow emphasized the mother-child bond as central to development.
3. Ellyn Kaschak also tried to find a new perspective on Freud’s theories. Rather than focus
on the male point of view in the Oedipal complex, she looked at Oedipus’ daughter
Antigone (who gave up her own needs to care for her blind father) as an archetype of
women.
B. F. Skinner and Free Will
An ongoing debate in psychology concerns just who or what is in control of our behavior. This
debate has been contested since the 1920s. Skinner places control in the environment,
asserting that free will or self-control is an illusion. Do we have control of our behavior? If
not, what is difference between humans and animals…or plants?
Albert Bandura
•Reciprocal determinism. The environment, our behavior, and our own expectations affect
each other…it’s hard to tell where the cause is, and where the effect is.
•Self-efficacy. The degree to which we believe we can control the outcome of a situation.
How much control do you have over your behavior and your environment?
Julian Rotter
According to Rotter, people with an internal locus of control see themselves as primarily in
control of their behavior and its consequences; those with an external locus of control
believe their destiny is in the hands of fate, luck, or chance.
Humanistic Personality Theories
Humanistic theories are similar to those of the psychoanalysts in that these theories assume that
inner conflicts influence personality. However, the humanistic approach emphasizes the adaptive
function of conflicts, rather than their capacity for producing mental illness. Humanistic
personality theories have been soundly criticized by behaviorists and others as lacking testability,
being based on inadequate evidence, and being sexist. Why, despite these criticisms, do you
think the humanistic approach has been such a powerful force in psychology? Are theories that
purport effective use in therapeutic settings and that offer insights into behavior appropriate
subject matter for psychology? Psychology often portrays itself as scientific, but then how can it
use these unscientific therapy methods?
Abraham Maslow
Self-actualization means developing to one's fullest potential. It is goal that is strived for, but
rarely reached. Abraham Maslow said about peak experiences: “I would like you to think of the
most wonderful experiences of your life; happiest moments, ecstatic moments, moments of
rapture, perhaps from being in love, or from listening to music or suddenly ‘being hit’ by a book
or painting, or from some great creative moment. First list these. And then try to tell me how you
feel in such acute moments, how you feel differently from the way you feel at other times, how
you are at the moment a different person in some ways.” (Maslow, 1962, p. 67)
Carl Rogers
Individuals often do not become fully functioning persons, because in childhood, they did not
receive unconditional positive regard from their parents. To gain positive regard, they had to
meet their parents' conditions of worth. Rogers used this concept to develop his person-centered
therapy – the client feels unconditional positive regard from the therapist, and is free and safe to
explore the self.
•Self-Concept: Person’s perception of his or her personality traits, which shapes our subjective
world; it guides what we pay attention to, remember and think about.
•Self-Esteem: A positive evaluation of oneself; regarding oneself as a worthwhile person
TRAIT THEORIES
Okay, admit it. There are too many theories! You’re right. I’m going to skim over the next
few…
Trait theories of personality are attempts to explain personality and differences between
people in terms of their personal characteristics.
•Allport defined a cardinal trait as a personal quality that is so strong a part of a person's
personality that he or she may become identified with that trait or known for it. A central
trait is the type you might mention when writing a letter of recommendation.
•Cattell used the term surface traits to refer to observable qualities of personality. Source
traits underlie the surface traits, make up the most basic personality structure, and cause
behavior. Click on Cattell’s linked name on the slide to see a chart.
•Eysenck considers the two most important dimensions of personality to be Extroversion
(extroversion versus introversion) and Neuroticism (emotional stability versus instability).
Click on Eysenck’s linked name on the slide to see a chart.
•According to McCrae and Costa, the Big Five factors are Neuroticism, Extroversion,
Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness to Experience. Click on McCrae and Costa’s
linked names on the slide to see a chart.
Self Image
This graphic illustrates incongruence: how we often have different ideas about who we are
(true self), who we think we are (self-image), and who we wish we were (ideal self).
Congruence is a merging of these “selves”: we are who we want to be.
Genetic Influences on Personality
Research has sought to establish biological links to a number of personality variables. For
example, the gender and hormonal differences associated with aggression strongly hint that
aggression has a biological link. There are many more indications of biological influences on
personality than were previously thought.
Personality and Culture
Whatever a person’s genetic make-up, different cultures encourage and discourage the
exhibition of different traits. For example, the Japanese concept of amae refers to the
dependence on or the presumption of the benevolence of another (Takeo Doi, 1962). This
concept describes the attitude of children toward parents or between husband and wife.
Apparently this concept governs much of the family interdependence and the respect of
elders that typifies Japanese family life. Japanese workers have a devotion to their employers
that is governed by this same pattern.
However, there is also strong evidence for some degree of universality in personality,
especially with regard to the Big Five. Recent studies of McCrae and Costa and their
colleagues have found that even changes in the strength of some personality factors that are
related to maturity seem to be universal. Some 7,360 subjects from five cultures as diverse as
Croatia, Italy, Germany, Portugal and South Korea were found to undergo changes in the
relative strength of neuroticism, extroversion and openness, all of which tended to weaken
between college age and middle adulthood. During the same period, Agreeableness and
Conscientiousness strengthened somewhat. Similar maturational or age related changes
were also reported for subjects in the United States (McCrea et al, 2000). Critics of
personality theories point out that psychologists’ ideas about and methods of assessing
personality are themselves culture-bound. How do you think Freud's ideas might have been
influenced by 19th century Victorian culture with its strict prohibitions regarding discussions
of sexuality? An emphasis on traits appears to be particularly Western; other cultural
perspectives emphasize context far more than American and European psychologists do
(Hall, 1996).
The cultural dimension known as individualism/collectivism is associated with personality.
Individualist cultures encourage people to be view themselves as separate from others and to
value independence and assertiveness. Collectivist cultures emphasize social connectedness
among people and encourage individuals to define themselves in terms of their social
relationships.
Personality Assessment Methods
Personality assessment methods include observation (including structured observations such
as interviews and surveys), inventories, and projective tests. Cultural bias is as an important
factor in personality assessment just as it is in the measurement of cognitive abilities. For
instance, there is a small but growing amount of literature showing how personality
assessment of multilingual people differs according to the language in which the test is taken.
For instance, an individual who speaks Spanish and English might score at the introversion
end of the extroversion-introversion scale on a test written in Spanish and in the opposite
direction when tested in English. The reasons for such variations remain unclear. Such
findings challenge our traditional notions of personality by suggesting that there is not
necessarily a "core" to personality that produces stability and consistency in other cultures as
it does in ours. This notion is compounded by the fact that monolingual Americans are the
minority in the world in their ability to speak only one language. If people from other cultures
can speak multiple languages, this points to the possibility of personality being a relatively
fluid and dynamic entity, shifting and changing as languages, and presumably underlying
culture, changes. See Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) for an example.
Structured Interview
A structured interview is a one-on-one, face-to-face meeting designed to gain information
about someone’s personality, current psychological state, or personal history. Diagnoses
may be subject to interviewer bias; if the interviewer has a preconceived idea about the
client/patient, the diagnosis may be inaccurate.
•Unstructured Interview: Conversation is informal and topics are discussed as they
arise
•Structured Interview: Follows a pre-arranged plan, using a series of planned questions
•Diagnostic Interview: Used to find out how someone is feeling and what complaints or
symptoms someone has
•Direct Observation: Looking at behavior directly
Personality Inventories
An inventory is a paper-and-pencil test (or computerized test) with questions about a person's
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, which can be scored according to a standard procedure.
Personality inventories are extremely common. You may have completed one as part of a preemployment screening process. Some inventories, notably the MMPI-2, are designed to assess
psychopathology (abnormality). Others, such as the CPI, measure differences in normal traits.
Ethical standards require that psychologists use a personality measure that is appropriate for the
decision it informs. However, judgments about personality cannot be based on a single test.
•Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2). The MMPI-2 is designed to
screen and diagnose psychiatric problems. Validity Scales: Scales (like on the MMPI-2) that
tell whether test scores should be invalidated for lying, inconsistency, or “faking good”
(trying to make yourself look good, almost angelic). Click on the MMPI link on the slide to
see a profile.
•California Psychological Inventory (CPI) is designed to assess the normal personality.
•Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) measures personality on four scales:
introversion/extroversion, intuitive/sensing, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceptive. Try
the online test on the Activity page!
•Honesty Test: Paper and pencil measure designed to detect attitudes, beliefs and behavior
patterns that predispose a person to dishonest behavior.
Projective Tests
In a projective test, people respond to inkblots, drawings of ambiguous human situations,
incomplete sentences, and the like by projecting their own inner thoughts, feelings, fears, or
conflicts onto the test materials.
Two popular tests are the TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) and the Rorschach Inkblot Method.
The Rorschach uses abstract inkblots such as the one shown in Figure 11.5 on page 331.
Psychologists must be very experienced in the use of projective techniques to use them effectively.
They cannot be used for definitive diagnoses of disorders or assessments of normal personality
traits. Instead, they help psychologists identify themes that are important to patients. As such, they
provide therapists with clues about what kinds of other assessments or therapeutic techniques may
be helpful.
•Rorschach Technique: Developed by Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach; contains 10
standardized inkblots
•Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Developed by Henry Murray, personality theorist.
Projective device consisting of 20 drawings (black and white) of various situations;
client/patient must make up stories about the drawings.
Behavioral Assessment: Recording the frequency of various behaviors
Situational Test: Real life situations are simulated so that someone’s spontaneous reactions can be
recorded
Halo Effect: Tendency to generalize a favorable or unfavorable first impression to unrelated details
of personality (Make a good first impression!)