The Psychology of the Person
Chapter 1 Introduction
Naomi Wagner, Ph.D
Lecture Outlines
Based on Burger, 8th edition
Personality vs. Human Behavior
The term “personality” refers to an
“invisible”, hypothetical entity
We cannot see what is going on “inside”
the person
We assess “what is going on inside” on
the basis of behavioral observations
Behaviors that are consistent along time
and across situations seem to reflect one’s
personality
Why Study Personality?
• We often want to explain the behavior of
other people
• Especially when this behavior is
unexpected
• We need to explain in order to be able to
predict (and possibly to protect ourselves)
• The ability to predict provides us with a
sense of safety
Examples of Attempting to Predict Behavior
Dating services: Studies have shown that
similarity in personal tendencies, interests,
etc is a good predictor of the success of t
he relationship
In the job-market: some jobs may require,
in addition to the technical skills, some
personality dispositions, e.g. the ability to
work under stress
The Person vs. the Situation
One of the enduring questions in psychology:
Is our behavior shaped by the situation we are in
(external), or by the type of person we are
(internal)?
Both the person and the situation contribute to
our behavior. On the one hand, we know that
we do not act the same way in all situations, but
on the other hand we also know that in similar
situations, under the same conditions, different
people act differently.
Personality variables vs. Situational
Variables in Affecting our behavior
The term “Personality” originates from the Greek
word Persona, meaning a mask
In the ancient Greek theater, the actors carried a
mask attached to a stick, it represented the
character they played
Are we putting on a mask?
The term personality means a mask in Greek,
and further linguistic analysis points to “per
sonare” to sound through the mask, meaning, to
pretend you are someone else
Under what conditions might this be true?
One example is job interview, where we want to
present ourselves in a favorable light
Another example is in a court of law, when we
have committed a crime and want to present
ourselves as incompetent to stand trial
(“insane”)
How do the fields of personality and social
psychology differ?
The Study of Individual Differences
Social psychologists are interested in how
people typically behave in respond to situational
demands.
Personality psychologists accept that there might
be typical responses in certain situations, but
their main interest is what makes one person
different from the other.
The study of individual differences, that isconsistent individual differences across
situations- for example, why are some people
outgoing and others are shy?
Definition of “Personality”
There is no single definition to the term
Burger (our author), suggests that personality
can be defined as consistent behavioral patterns
and intrapersonal processes originating within
the individual.
Note elements of this definition: personality is
consistent, along time and across situations.
Personality is our intrapersonal processes (not
interpersonal) —our emotional, motivational,
and cognitive processes that affect how we feel
and how we act.
Six approaches to studying personality
What are the sources of consistent
behavioral patterns, and intrapersonal
processes?
There are six approaches, or perspectives,
that attempt to answer the question. Each
approach aims to identify and explore an
important aspect of human personality.
Five blind men meet an elephant
They each perceives it differently
The main point of each perspective
Psychoanalysis (Freud)
The psychoanalytic approach focuses on the role of the
unconscious mind in affecting behavior.
Freud used the analogy of the iceberg
The unconscious stores desires, impulses, drives, painful
memories- of which we are not aware
Psychoanalysis (cont-d)
We are not aware of the motivations for
our behavior- we do not have “free will”
A deterministic perspective
The Trait Approach
The term “trait” refers to a hypothetical
construct, some inner “factor” that is not
a physical entity, that is abstract
However, we assume that we have inner
traits that are reflected in our behavior
We say that someone is shy, anxious,
friendly, etc on the basis of behaviors
The Trait Approach (cont-d)
A trait is perceived as a “dimension” or a
continuum, ranging from less “amount” of the
trait to a lot of the trait
Less__________________________More
By assessing traits (e.g. a test to assess shyness)
each person can be identified in terms how
much of the trait he/she posses
This enables comparison across people (e.g.
when you want to determine who among the
applicants for a job has more of the trait needed)
The Biological Approach
The biological approach points to
inherited dispositions, and physiological
processes as affecting human behavior
The Human Genome Project identified all
the genes on the human chromosome
Brain imaging techniques enable us to
watch physiological activity in the brain as
the brain processes information.
The Biological Approach (cont-d)
The neuron
The biological Approach (cont-d)
Every cell in the human body has 46
chromosomes, arranged in 23 pairs (one
from you mother and one from your
father) , they are made of DNA
The humanistic approach identifies
personal responsibility, the drive for selfactualization and self-acceptance as key
factors in personality.
The Biological Approach (cont-d)
We do not come I to the world a blank
slate (tabula rasa0
Biology means our familial heritability
Biology means our shared evolutionary
history
Biology means the physiology underlying
our mental processes
The Humanistic Approach
Main concepts of this approach is free
will, self-actualization, self-acceptance
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is an
important theme of this approach
It sees us human beings as motivated to
grow and to become the best we can
The Humanistic Approach
The Behavioral-Learning Approach
The behavioral/social-learning approach
explains personality differences among
people as results of conditioning, learning
and expectations, and other
environmental influences
This approach is deterministic- we are not
always aware of the causes for our
behavior, because we are manipulated by
environmental forces
The Cognitive Approach
The Cognitive approach looks at the way
different people process information to
explain differences in behavior.
What might be the relationships
between the six approaches?
 Although sometimes the six approaches
differ only in focus, in many instances the
explanations of two or more approaches
are entirely incompatible.
 For example: The Behavioral approach is
deterministic (we may not be aware of the
way we have been “conditioned”),
whereas the Humanistic approaches
believes in Free Will.
How are the Psychoanalytical and the
Behavioral Approaches Similar?
Both present a deterministic perspective
We are not in charge of our behavior, but rather
operate along the influence of “forces” that we
are not aware of
In the psychoanalytic view it is the unconscious
mind
In the behavioral view our behavior is shaped by
learning principles that we might not be aware
of (e.g. commercials create an association
between a product and a desired result, so we
buy the product).
Why Study Personality?
We hope to identify personality traits, so we can
predict how the person will behave
In hiring decisions, the job may require some
personality characteristics
Dating services operate on the basis of the
research finding that similarity in traits and
tendencies predict the success of the relationship
In the legal system, the lawyers want to assess
the tendencies of prospective jurors.
How the 6 approaches view aggression?
(Please review in textbook the 6 explanations of depression as well)
The psychoanalytic: points to an unconscious death
instinct. According to this point of view, we all posses
an unconscious drive to self-destruct. However, since
people with healthy personality do not hurt themselves,
this death wish is turned outward, and expressed as
aggression against others. Another psychoanalytic
suggestion is that aggression results from frustration—
when our goal-directed movement is blocked.
The trait approach focuses on individual differences
among people in aggression, and the stability of this
behavior along time and across situations.
(cont-d)
The biological perspective is also interested in stable
patterns of aggressive behavior in people, and point to
the genetic predisposition to act aggressively as one
reason for this stability. Evidence supports the genetic
basis of aggression- it seems to be running in families.
Another facet of the biological perspective is the
evolutionary explanation: In terms to our prehistory,
the more aggressive members of the species had a higher
chance to survive, to live long enough in order to mate
and to pass on the aggressive genes to their offspring.
Testosterone levels were also implicated in aggression.
(cont-d)
The humanistic approach views aggression as the
result of unfulfilled needs to grow in a healthy
manner.
The behavioral/social learning perspective:
aggression is learned on the basis of rewards
and reinforcement, and also on the basis of
observing aggressive models being rewarded.
Cognitive psychologists view aggression from the
perspective of information-processing. We
respond to situations of the basis of our
interpretation of the situation.
Personality and Culture
Individualistic cultures place great emphasis on individual needs
and accomplishments
Collectivist cultures are concerned about group belongingness and
group needs.
Concepts that are studied by Western personality psychologists can
take on very different meanings when people from collectivist
cultures are studied. For example, the Western notion of self-esteem
is based on assumptions of personal goals and feeling of uniqueness
that may not be appropriate to people in collectivist, group-oriented
cultures.
Similarly, the Western definition of achievement and success is not
universal. In collectivist cultures success means cooperation and
groups accomplishments.
The study of personality: Theory,
Application, Assessment, and Research
Theory: each approach to understanding
personality begins with a theory. The theory is
an attempt to explain the mechanisms that
underlie human personality and how these
mechanisms are responsible for creating
behaviors unique to a given individual. Also
each theory attempts to emphasize a different
aspect of personality, each theory must wrestle
with several issues relating to the nature of
human personality.
Issues along which the theories differ
Genetic vs. environmental influences: Is our personality the
result of inherited (genetically-based) dispositions, or is it shaped by
the environment, as we grow up?
Conscious vs. unconscious determinants of behavior: To what
extent are people aware of the causes of their behavior? There is
some agreement today that much information processing takes
place at a level below awareness.
Free will vs. determinism: To what extent do we decide our own
fate, and to what extent are our behaviors determined by forces
outside our control? This is an issue that has spilled from
philosophy. Radical behaviorism, as represented by Skinner, argued
that our behavior is not freely chosen, but rather the result of
environmental stimuli to which we are exposed. Psychoanalysis also
stresses innate needs and unconscious mechanism that leave much
of human behavior outside of our control. At the other end of the
spectrum are humanistic theorists, who identify personal
responsibility as the cornerstone of mental health.
Application
Application: The most obvious
application of personality theories is in
psychotherapy. Many of the major
pioneers in the study of personality were
clinicians, who developed their ideas
about human nature of the basis of their
work with clients. Psychotherapy comes in
many styles, reflecting the assumptions
the therapist makes about the nature of
personality.
Assessment
Since the concept of “personality” implies
some internal “structures” that are invisible
and non-physical, how do we measure it?
The psychoanalytic approach attempts to
get to the unconscious mind by presenting
a person with ambiguous stimuli
In the absence of clear meaning, the
person is expected to “project” onto the
stimulus unconscious sentiments.
Assessment (Cont-d)
Many personality researchers, especially
of the trait approach, use self-report
inventories
Behavioral psychologists use direct
observations of behavior to assess the
existence of a given trait “inside” the
person.
Research
Research: Each of the theories we will
examine generates a great deal of
research. Sometimes this research tests
principles and assumptions central to the
theory. Other times researchers are
interested in further exploring concepts
introduced by the theory.