Theories of personality
• Model of reality that helps us to understand,
explain, predict and control the reality
– Sheldon Type theory
– Trait theory
– Psychoanalytic theory
– Social learning
– Self theory
Sheldon type theory
1)Sheldon theory of body types
– He identified an indirect relationship between body
types and personalities
• Endomorph- plump- relaxed, sociable, tolerant and
peaceful
• Mesomorph- muscular- active, assertive(self
confident), vigorous, dynamic, energetic
• Ectomorph- lean, delicate- quite, fragile(weak),
sensitive, non- assertive
Ectomorph
Slender, often tall, people, with long arms and legs and fine features.
Cerebrotonic: Nervous types, relatively shy, often intellectual
Endomorph
Chubby people, tending to “pear-shaped.”
Viscerotonic: Sociable types, lovers of food and physical comforts.
Mesomorph
Stockier people, with broad shoulders and good musculature.
Somatotonic: Active types, physically fit and energetic
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Trait theory
2)Allport’s Trait theory:
Gordon Allport, categorize traits into three general levels. They include:
1. Cardinal Traits
Cardinal traits, are the ones that dominate the entirety of a person's life such that a
person carrying such trait may even become famous and have their name become
synonymous with these traits. A person may be called "Christ-like" if he sacrifices
his own good for the benefit of others.
2. Central Traits
These are general characteristics that you use to describe another person are called
central traits. Examples include kind, sincere, cool and jolly.
3. Secondary Traits
These traits are those that only come out under certain situations. For example, you
become uneasy when a pop quiz is announced.
Trait theory
2)Allport’s Trait theory:
Gordon Allport, provided more than 4000 words describing or synonymous to a
single personality trait Gordon Allport, categorize traits into three general levels.
They include:
1. Cardinal Traits
Cardinal traits, are the ones that dominate the entirety of a person's life such that a
person carrying such trait may even become famous and have their name become
synonymous with these traits. A person may be called "Christ-like" if he sacrifices
his own good for the benefit of others.
2. Central Traits
These are general characteristics that you use to describe another person are called
central traits. Examples include kind, sincere, cool and jolly.
3. Secondary Traits
These traits are those that only come out under certain situations. For example, you
become uneasy when a pop quiz is announced.
Trait theory
Allport’s Trait theory:
Raymond Cattell: Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire
From Allport's list of about 4,000 traits, Raymond Cattell decreased the number into 1713 because he believed that
uncommon traits should be eliminated. In his research, Cattell eventually narrowed down the list into 16 personality
traits. He then developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), an assessment tool commonly utilized
today. The 16 personality traits include:
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1. Warmth (A) - a kind and friendly quality in someone
2. Reasoning (B) - the ability of the mind to think and understand things in a logical way
3. Emotional Stability (C) - person's ability to remain calm or even keel when faced with pressure or stress.
4. Dominance (E)
5. Liveliness (F) - very active and energetic
6. Rule-consciousness (G)
7. Social Boldness (H)
8. Sensitivity (I) - the quality of understanding how someone feels and being careful not to offend them
9. Vigilance (L) – More careful attention, especially in order to notice danger
10. Abstractedness (M) - not paying attention to what is happening or being said : thinking of other things
11. Privateness (N) - the condition of being concealed or hidden
12. Apprehension/Apprehensiveness (O) - Anxious or fearful about the future; uneasy:
13. Openness to change (Q1)
14. Self-reliance (Q2) - relying on oneself or one's own efforts and abilities rather than those exerted or supplied by
other people.
15. Perfectionism (Q3) - the ​wish for everything to be ​correct or ​perfect:
16. Tension (Q4
Trait theory
• Hans Eysenck: Three Dimensions of Personality
British psychologist Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based upon just
three universal trails:
Unlike Allport and Cattell, theorist Hans Eysenck only included three general traits in
his list. They are:
1. Introversion- Extraversion
As in Carl Jung's personality type theory, Eysenck classified people as either
introvert, those who directs focus on inner world, or extravert, those who gives
more attention to other people and his environment.
2. Neuroticism-Emotional Stability
This category is synonymous to "moodiness versus even-temperedness", where in a
neurotic person is inclined to having changing emotions from time to time, while
an emotionally stable person tends to maintain a constant mood or emotion.
3. Pyschoticism
This dimension refers to the finding it hard to deal with reality. A psychotic person
may be considered hostile, manipulative, anti-social and non-emphathetic.
Trait theory
• The Big Five: Five-Factor Model
As a result of a thorough research on Cattell's and Eysenck's personality trait
theories, the Big Five theory was formulated. This model states that there are 5
core traits which collaborate in order to form a single personality. These include:
Extraversion - tendency to be active, sociable, person-oriented, talkative, optimistic,
empathetic
Openness to Experience - tendency to be imaginative, curious, creative and may
have unconventional beliefs and values.
Agreeableness - tendency to be good-natured, kind-hearted, helpful, altruistic and
trusting.
Conscientiousness - tendency to be hardworking, reliable, ambitious, punctual and
self-directed.
Neuroticism - tendency to become emotionally unstable and may even develop
psychological distress
Psychoanalytic theory
3)Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory
 Based on human behavior influenced more by unseen forces than conscious, rational
thoughts.
Freud argued that personality is divided into three structures:
1.
The id is “ the primitive, instinctive component of personality that operates according to the
pleasure principle”.The two major drives For example, if your id walked past a stranger eating ice
cream, it would most likely take the ice cream for itself. It doesn't know, or care, that it is rude to
take something belonging to someone else; it would care only that you wanted the ice cream.
2.
The ego is “the decision-making component of personality that operates according to the reality
principle”. EG if you walked past the stranger with ice cream one more time, your ego would
mediate the conflict between your id ("I want that ice cream right now") and superego ("It's wrong
to take someone else's ice cream") and decide to go buy your own ice cream. While this may
mean you have to wait 10 more minutes, which would frustrate your id, your ego decides to make
that sacrifice as part of the compromise– satisfying your desire for ice cream while also avoiding
an unpleasant social situation and potential feelings of shame.
3.
The superego is “the moral component of personality that incorporates social standards about
what represents right and wrong”. EG:If your superego walked past the same stranger, it would
not take their ice cream because it would know that that would be rude.
4.
Freud believed that the id, ego, and superego are in constant conflict and that adult personality
and behavior are rooted in the results of these internal struggles throughout childhood. He
believed that a person who has a strong ego has a healthy personality and that imbalances in this
system can lead to neurosis(what we now think of as anxiety and depression) and unhealthy
behaviors.
Psychoanalytic theory
The id, ego and superego are arranged into different layers of awareness including:
1. The conscious layer – this includes thoughts or feelings we are fully aware of.
2. The preconscious layer – this includes information just beneath the surface of
our awareness.
3. The unconscious layer – this includes thoughts, memories, feelings and desires
that we are not aware of, but that greatly influence our behavior
Freud believed that behavior is the result of ongoing internal conflict among
the id, ego and superego.
Conflicts stemming from sexual and aggressive urges are especially significant.
Such conflicts arouse anxiety and we use defense mechanisms – “largely
unconscious reactions that protect a person from painful emotions such as
anxiety and guilt”.
Social
learning
theory
People learn through observing others behaviour. Most human behaviour is learned
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observationally through modeling observing others, and one forms an idea of how new
behaviors' are performed. And on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide
for action. Social learning theory explains human behaviour in terms of continuous
reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences.
The following steps are involved in the observational learning and modeling process:
Attention:
In order to learn, you need to be paying attention Anything that distracts your attention is
going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is
a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to
learning.
Retention:
The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention
can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on
it is vital to observational learning.
Reproduction:
Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to
actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads
to improvement and skill advancement.
Motivation:
Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to
imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an
important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so
can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if
you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on time, you might
start to show up a few minutes early each day.
Carl Rogers Self theory
Carl Rogers Self theory
A person reacts to changes in their phenomenal field, which includes
external objects and people as well as internal thoughts an emotions.
Rogers believed that all behavior is motivated by self-actualizing
tendencies, which drive a person to achieve at their highest level. As a
result of their interactions with the environment and others, an
individual forms a structure of the self or self-concept—an organized,
fluid, conceptual pattern of concepts and values related to the self. If a
person has a positive self-concept, they tend to feel good about who
they are and often see the world as a safe and positive place. If they
have a negative self-concept, they may feel unhappy with who they are.
Carl Rogers Self theory
Ideal Self vs. Real Self
Rogers further divided the self into two categories: the ideal self and the real self.
The ideal self is the person that you would like to be;
the real self is the person you actually are.
Rogers focused on the idea that we need to achieve consistency between these two
selves.
We experience congruence when our thoughts about our real self and ideal self are
very similar—in other words, when our self-concept is accurate. High congruence
leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life.
Conversely, when there is a great discrepancy between our ideal and actual selves,
we experience a state Rogers called incongruence, which can lead to
maladjustment.
Carl Rogers Self theory
He claimed that a fully functioning person would continually aim to
fulfill his or her potential in each of these processes, achieving what
he called "the good life.
He found that fully functioning individuals had several traits or
tendencies in common
 A growing openness to experience–they move away from
defensiveness.
 An increasingly existential lifestyle–living each moment fully, rather
than distorting the moment to fit personality or self-concept.
 Increasing organismic trust–they trust their own judgment and their
ability to choose behavior that is appropriate for each moment.
 Freedom of choice–they are not restricted by incongruence and are
able to make a wide range of choices more fluently. They believe that
they play a role in determining their own behavior and so feel
responsible for their own behavior.
 Higher levels of creativity–they will be more creative in the way they
adapt to their own circumstances without feeling a need to conform.
Carl Rogers Self theory
 Reliability and constructiveness–they can be trusted to act
constructively. Even aggressive needs will be matched and balanced
by intrinsic goodness in congruent individuals.
 A rich full life–they will experience joy and pain, love and
heartbreak, fear and courage more intensely.
For Rogers, fully functioning people are well adjusted, well balanced
and interesting to know. Often such people are high achievers in
society. Critics claim that the fully functioning person is a product of
Western culture. In other cultures, such as Eastern cultures, the
achievement of the group is valued more highly than the
achievement of any one person.
Attributes of Personality
• Locus of Control(attitude)
– It is the degree to which people believe they are masters
of their own fate. It is divided as internals and externals
– Internals – individuals who believe that they control what
happens to them.
– Externals - individuals who believe that what happens to
them is controlled by outside forces such as luck or
chance.
• Machiavellianism
– Refers to an individual propensity(tendency) to
manipulate people for solving his/her interest .It is the
degree to which an individual is pragmatic(practical),
maintains emotional distances & tries to control people
by manipulating the system to his advantage.
• Self – esteem(image)
– Individuals degree of liking or disliking themselves. It is
directly related to expectations for success & job
satisfaction. High self esteems believe that they possess
the ability they need to succeed at work & they are more
satisfied with their job.
• Self – monitoring
– It is an individuals ability to adjust his or her behavior to
external situational factors. Individual with high self
monitoring show considerable adaptability in adjusting
their behavior with external environment & behave
differently in different situations.
• Risk taking
– Individual differ in taking risks. The propensity to assume
or avoid risk affects a manager behavior in making
decisions
Importance of Personality
1)Leading Capacity:
Traits such as openness, emotional stability and agreeableness all predict that an
individual will have less conflict , work better in teams, and have positive attitude
about his or her work. People with this type personality should be placed in
situations where they would be working with or leading others. Those who do not
have these traits will have less motivation and be more negative when they are
placed in these same situations.
2) Interpersonal Skills:
Individuals who exhibit these trait generally enjoy working with other people, and
they have the empathy and sensitivity that enables them to get along well with
others. People with this trait are often placed in roles where they work with
customers, manage employees, or mediate problem.
3) Self Efficacy, Conscientiousness' and Pro Active:
These trait contribute to good decision making under pressure and independence,
while traits such as neuroticism and not being open to. Managers can place
individual with these traits in appropriate positions to do their best work
Importance of Personality
4) Motivation:
Placing individuals with certain characteristics in jobs that best suit them raises
their levels of motivation. It also affects their overall performance because they are
happier on a daily basis. This affects the overall productivity of the work place
b’cos more is getting accomplished due to better attitudes and happier employees.
5) Interactive or Technical in nature:
People with extrovert personalities of ten work best in positions where they get to
interact with others. These people can provide friendly and helpful customer
service and they can boost the attitudes of other workers by being upbeat and
happy. However, extrovert people might not flourish in positions that keep them
behind closed doors, separated from others. This might include an information
technology position that keeps them behind a computer allday or an accounts
payable job that does not require much interaction with vendors pr other staff
members. Those jobs might be a better fit for people with more introverted
personalities.
6) Work Ethics:
A strong work ethics develops in employees who make their jobs a high priority.
Importance of Personality
Some employees might perform adequately, some employees might perform
adequately, but without favour or any indication they are at work for more than a
pay check. Their work is likely mediocre and often turned in barely on time or late.
Other employee might work late to get projects done early and take the initiatives
to suggest new projects or more efficient production methods. People with a weak
work ethic often require more management and oversight to keep them focused on
their work,while people with a strong work ethic typically work well with minimum
oversight.
7) Creativity and Futuristic:
Some people are wired to think of the big picture, to see not only where the
company is now but where it could or should be in the future. They make creative,
broad plans designed to keep the company moving forward and they think of new
initiatives to solve existing problems. However, they are not usually good at
executing the broad plans. That is where the detailed oriented people come in,
these people sometimes have trouble seeing a direction for the company that is
different form the existing direction, but if they get a project, they execute the
project to its smallest detail. They are often highly organised and keep excellent
records, so projects can be recreated later if necessary. It takes both types of
people to keep the company running smoothly
Measure personality
 Personality inventories(LOC)
 E.g. A job is what you make of it(disagree very much, disagree
moderately, disagree slightly, agree very much, agree moderately, agree
slightly)
 Projective tests
 Feelings, aspirations, ambitions and hopes.
 Inkblot, Thematic appreciation test, sentence completion test
 Assessment centre
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Assess candidates in social situation
Situational tests, management problems, business plan presentations
Evaluate benefits both organization and employees.
Organization identifies employee strength and weakness.
Life long attachment, positive impression about their job, promotional
opportunities.
 HLL, Crompton Greaves.