Issues in Personality Psychology
Definitions:
…no substantive definition of personality can be applied with any
generality.
….Personality is defined by the particular empirical concepts that are a part
of the theory of personality employed by the observer.
(Hal, Lindzey & Campbell, 1997)
Issues:
- not exhaustive
- overlap
1. Intrapersonal – extrapersonal
- internal workings or structure determine behavior
Freud – Id
Jung – Shadow
Cattell, Eysenck – traits
cognitive theorists – schemas
- demands of, and learning within external reality shape behavior
Erikson – Psychosocial states
Bandura, Mischel – social learning
Skinner – operant conditioning
2. Dynamic – Structural
- dynamic theorists ask, "Why do people act the way they do?"
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Freud – drives, needs
Adler – inferiority feelings, complexes
Jung – imbalances
- dynamic theorists emphasize:
intrapersonal forces
what the "parts" do
- structural theorists ask, "What kind of person is this? How is
she put together?
e.g., trait theorists
3. Whole – Part
- theorists stressing wholeness emphasize the essential unity of
the person
- one's unity and uniqueness are expressed in the parts
e.g., humanistic theorists
- theorists stressing parts emphasize that the person is the sum
of universal human characteristics
- one's uniqueness is in the mix of universal characteristics
e.g., trait theorists
4. Subject – Object
- the subject orientation emphasizes that people are subjects of their
lives:
- live from their own point of view
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- initiate and control their lives
e.g., existential/humanistic views
- the object orientation emphasizes that people are acted on by the
world
- e.g., behaviorist theories
5. Idiographic – Nomethetic
- the idiographic approach looks for uniqueness
- tries to understand the individual
e.g., case studies
- the nomothetic approach looks for laws, what is universal to all
people
- tries to explain behavior in terms of common laws
e.g., experimental studies with groups
6. Feelings, Thoughts and Actions
- feelings include urges, passions, impulses, emotions, desires,
etc.
- stressed by dynamic theorists
e.g., Freud, Jung
- thoughts include awareness, reasoning, analysis, problem
solving, etc.
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- stressed by cognitive theorists: feelings/emotions are due to
faulty thought patterns
- actions include doing, performing, behaving, etc.
- thoughts and feelings are by-products of behavior
- stressed by behaviorist theories
7. Trait – Dimension
- traits are the characteristics of a person that shape her behavior
- traits are "all or none"
- most human traits are really dimensions:
- they exist on a continuum
shy………………………………………forward
active……………………………………passive
introvert…………………………………extrovert
8. Active – Passive
- passive views see the person determined by internal (biological) or
external (environmental) forces
- active views see the person as a self-directing autonomous being
9. Past – Present
- Past: the adult personality is formed during childhood
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- we relive the past unless we enter therapy
e.g., psychodynamic views
- Present: the adult personality is shaped by what is happening
today
- we need to address the problems of today
e.g., behaviorist, cognitive, and existential views
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