The Role of Perception; Personality theories
Falkné dr. Bánó Klára
BGF Külkereskedelmi Főiskolai Kar
Falkne.dr.BanoKlara@kkfk.bgf.hu
falk.cs@t-online.hu

PERCEPTION
•
Definitions
•
The goals of perception
•
The perceptual process
•
Perceiving other people
•
Perceptual distortions and errors in interpersonal perception

Definitions of Perception
• Perception is the study of how we integrate sensory information into percepts of objects, and how we then use these percepts to get around in the world (a percept is a product of a perceptual process).
(Atkinson)
•
The process of perception explains the manner in which information (stimuli) from the environment around us is selected and organised, to provide meaning for the individual.

The Goals of Perception
The major goals of perception:
(pattern) recognition
(spatial) localization
(perceptual) constancy

The Perceptual Process – Perception as information processing

Everyone has their perceived view of reality:

The process of perceptual selection is based on both a/ internal and b/ external factors a/ Internal factors: limits to the sensory systems psychological factors the needs of the individual previous experiences b/ External factors: we will give more attention to stimuli which are: large, intense, loud, bright, moving, stand out from the background, i.e. external factors refer to the nature of the stimuli.

Factors affecting an individual’s perceptual set

The organisation and the arrangement of stimuli
Concerning the organisation and the arrangement of stimuli the GESTALT school of psychology produced a series of still valid principles: a/ the figure and ground principle b/ the grouping principle c/ closure

The figure and ground principle

The Grouping principle

Closure

Perceptual illusions

Perceiving other people – Cycle of perception and behaviour

PERSON PERCEPTION
•
Person perception differs from the perception of
• objects because: it is a continually dynamic and changing process, the perceiver is a part of this process who will influence and be influenced by the other people in the situation.

The accuracy of interpersonal perception
The accuracy of interpersonal perception and the judgements made about other people are influenced by:
• The nature of the relationship between the perceiver and the other person;
•
The amount of information available to the perceiver and the order in which information is received;
•
The nature and extent of interaction between the two people.

Perceptual distortions and errors in interpersonal perception:
•
Stereotyping
•
The halo effect (and the rusty halo effect)
•
Perceptual defence
•
Projection

PERSONALITY is the total of a person’s characteristic ways of dealing with the world, described in terms of overt behaviors or in inferred dispositions such as traits.
(Atkinson et al.)
PERSONALITY can be defined as the distinctive and characteristic patterns of thought, emotion and behavior that define an individual’s personal style of interacting with the physical and social environments.
(Atkinson)

FIVE APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
1.The Biological Approach a./ Body types (somatotypes) b./ Brain areas (physiognomy, phrenology) c./ Genetics
2. The Trait Approach/Theories a./ Gordon Allport b./ Raymond Cattell’s trait theory introducing factor analysis c./ Hans Eysenck’s trait theory

FIVE APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
3. The Psychoanalytic Approach a./ Freud b./ Neo-Freudians (Jung, Adler, Erikson, Horney)
4. The Behavioral Approach a./ Dollard and Miller b./ Bandura
5. The Humanistic Approach a./ Maslow b./ Rogers

Personality theories – Perspectives of psychology
Since the task of personality theories is essentially the task of psychology as a whole, the major contemporary personality theories are related to the general perspectives of psychology. Only trait theories are not also a general perspective.

Hippocrates’ theory

Three main somatotypes (soma=Greek ‘body’)
Sheldon (1954); Malandro and Barker (1983); Vaughan (1982)
1. Endomorphs – oval, pear-shaped people happy, cheerful, sociable, emotional and relaxed
2. Mesomorphs – strong, muscular people dominant, enterprising, don’t like to lose, have low guilt levels
3. Ectomorphs - thin, fragile people shy, tense, awkward, indoor types
Both physically and behaviourally, people can be one of these extreme types or a combination of different types.

NOMOTHETIC AND IDIOGRAPHIC
APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
The NOMOTHETIC approaches (e.g. Cattell,
Eysenck) tend to view environmental and social influences as minimal and view personality as consistent, largely inherited and resistant to change.
Nomothetic approaches claim that it is possible to measure and predict the ways in which personality types would behave in given circumstances.

THE IDIOGRAPHIC APPROACHES (e.g.
Erikson, Rogers) are concerned with understanding the uniqueness of individuals and the development of the self concept. They regard personality development as a process, open to change. They regard individuals as responding to the environment and people around them, the dynamics of the interactions play a critical part in shaping personality. The measurement of traits is seen as inappropriate.
The richness and depth of a person’s personality cannot be revealed in superficial questionnaires.
The two approaches can be seen as complementary .

‘TRAIT’ theories of Personality – Cattell’s 16 factor analysis

Definition of ‘trait’ and ‘factor analysis’

Eysenck’s Personality Factors

THE ‘BIG FIVE’

TRAIT Theory - Main Criticisms
• People do not always show the same trait in different situations or even the same trait in the same situation.
• Different people may show consistency with some traits and considerable variability with others.
• Classical trait theory (Eysenck, Cattell) assumes that behaviour
(traits) is independent of both the situation and the persons with whom interaction takes place…. This is questionable – trait behaviour manifests itself in response to specific situations.
• Traits …are a product of language i.e. devices for speaking about people and are not objective features of action.