PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation
Chapter 13: Personality
Paul J. Wellman
Texas A&M University
Psychology in Action, Fifth Edition
by
Karen Huffman, Mark Vernoy, and
Judith Vernoy
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Lecture Overview
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Personality Assessment
Trait Theories of Personality
Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality
Humanistic Personality Theory
Social-Cognitive Approach to Personality
Biological Theories of Personality
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Personality
• Personality refers to a person’s unique
and relatively stable pattern of thoughts,
feelings, and actions
• Personality is an interaction between
biology and environment
– Genetic studies suggest heritability of
personality
– Other studies suggest learned components
of personality
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Measures of Personality
• Interviews
– Unstructured: “Tell me about yourself…”
– Structured: Set list of questions
• Observation: Psychologist learns about
personality by observing the person
• Objective tests: self-inventories
• Projective tests: subjects reveal their
personality during description of ambiguous
stimuli
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Projective Tests
• Projection is the notion that people
reveal their true feelings and thoughts
when describing ambiguous stimuli
• Projective tests present ambiguous
stimuli and ask that subjects describe
the stimuli
– The idea is that their verbal descriptions will
reveal key aspects of their personality
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Specific Projective Tests
• Rorschach test
– Consists of 10 inkblots
– Reliability and validity of this test is low
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
– Consists of a series of ambiguous figures
– Was devised to measure achievement
motivation by Henry Murray in 1938
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Personality Measurement Issues
• Objective self-report personality tests can be
criticized on the basis of
– Deliberate deception and social desirability bias
• Can the test detect deception and social desirability?
– Diagnostic difficulties: may not be sufficiently
specific to allow for diagnosis
– Inappropriate use: when tests are used for
purposes other than their designed use
• Use of a personality test to decide on a promotion
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Personality Traits
• Traits are relatively stable and consistent
personal characteristics
• Trait personality theories suggest that a
person can be described on the basis of
some number of personality traits
– Allport identified some 4,500 traits
– Factor analysis techniques: 30-35 basic traits
– Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits
• Extraversion/introversion, neuroticism,
psychotocism
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
The “Big 5”
• Modern personality research argues for 5
basic personality traits (OCEAN)
• Openness: whether a person is open to new
experiences
• Conscientiousness: whether a person is disciplined
and responsible
• Extroversion: whether a person is sociable,
outgoing and affectionate
• Agreeableness: whether a person is cooperative,
trusting, and helpful
• Neuroticism: whether a person is unstable and
prone to insecurity
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
The Big “5”
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Evaluating Trait Theory
• Trait theory, especially the Big 5 model is
able to describe personality
– Cross-cultural human studies find good
agreement for the Big 5 model
– Primate personality is accurately described by
the big 5
• Problems with trait theory include:
– Lack of explanation as to why traits develop
– Issue of explaining transient versus longlasting traits
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Psychoanalytic Theory
• Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain
personality on the basis of unconscious
mental forces
– Psychoanalytic theory was devised by Freud
• Levels of consciousness: Freud argued that much
of our mental states are unconscious
• Freud argued that personality is made up of
multiple structures, some of which are unconscious
• Freud argued that we have impulses that cause us
anxiety; our personality develops defense
mechanisms to protect against anxiety
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Levels of Consciousness
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Analytical Psychology
• Analytical psychology emphasized the
unconsciousness mind and its influence
on dream processes
– Devised by Carl Jung
– Two forms of unconscious mind
• Personal unconscious: unique for each person
• Collective unconscious: consists of primitive
images and ideas that are universal for humans
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Criticisms of Psychonalytic
Theory
Difficult to test
 Overemphasis on unconscious forces
 Inadequate evidence
 Sexism
 Lack of cross-cultural support

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Humanistic Theory
• Humanistic personality theories reject
psychoanalytic notions
– Humanistic theories view each person as
basically good and that people are striving
for self-fulfillment
– Humanistic theory argues that people carry
a perception of themselves and of the world
– The goal is to develop a positive selfconcept
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Issues for Humanistic Theory
• Naïve assumptions
• Poor testability and inadequate evidence
• Narrowness
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Interactionism
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e
Copyright
Copyright 2000 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
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© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e