Personality Development &

Assessment

Prof. Dr Fazaila Sabih

Department of Behavioural Sciences
Mohi-ud-Din Islamic Medical College (MIMC)
➢ Personality refers to distinct and relatively
stable pattern of behaviors, thoughts, motives
and emotions that characterizes an individual
over time and distinguishes him/her from
others.

➢ Personality of an individual might include

factors such as intellectual abilities, attitudes,
beliefs, moral values, emotional reactivity,
stress tolerance and motives acquired during
the process of growing up.
 Personality is an interaction between biology
and environment.
◦ Genetic studies suggest heritability of
personality.
◦ Other studies suggest learned components
(environment) of personality.
 There are different perspectives of personality:
 Biological
 Psychoanalytic
 Humanistic
 Trait
 Social Cognitive
1. Present since adolescence
2. Stable overtime despite fluctuations of
mood.
3. Manifests in different environments
recognizable to friends and
acquaintances.
 Determinants of personality

Family &
Biological factors Cultural factors Situational factors
Social factors

1. Heredity 1.Socialisation process

(Behaviour from family &
social group) 1.Positive behaviour
2. Brain 1. Independence- Australia
2. Identification process 2.Negative behaviour
3. Physical features 2. Aggression- North Korea
( Selecting ideal person)
3. Competition- India
3. Home environment
(Brought up)
4. Co-operation- Japan
4.Social Group.
 Temperament refers to the
basic disposition of a person
and is biologically based. It
determines the child's
approach to the world and
how the child learns about
the world.
Three areas:
◦ Emotionality
◦ Activity
◦ Sociability
 In his clinical
practice, Freud
encountered
patients suffering
from nervous
disorders. Their
complaints could
not be explained in

Culver Pictures
terms of purely
physical causes. Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939)
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 Basic Concepts of Psychoanalytic Theory:
 Freud’s clinical experience led him to develop
the first comprehensive theory of personality
which included:
 Unconscious Mind
 Psychosexual Stages
 Defense Mechanisms
 Personality is an outcome of interaction between
environment and biology.

 Behavior is motivated and influenced by

unconscious biological instincts/drives and
memories.

 Adult personality is influenced by childhood

experiences.
There are three levels of mind:
a. Conscious
b. Preconscious
c. Unconscious
Structure of personality: the personality is composed
of three parts :
1. Id
2. Ego
3.Superego
It is made up of biological drives/instincts and is
entirely the product of heredity.
It is inborn, operate on the ‘pleasure principle’
demanding immediate gratification.
Ego mediates between the urges of the id
and demands of the environment.
When fully developed it functions with the
id as a guiding force.
It works on “reality principle”
 Superego
By the age of about 7 years, the child
beings to make judgments about right or
wrong and this process is then well-
integrated into the personality.
This judgment process has been called
superego by Sigmund Freud.
It is equivalent to conscience.
It works on
“Perfection principle”
The results of Human actions come
about on the basis of their intentions
 Freud said that unconscious impulses cause us
anxiety; our personality develops defense
mechanisms to protect us against anxiety.
 Defense mechanisms refer to unconscious mental
processes that protect us from developing
anxiety.
◦ Denial: person refuses to recognize
reality.

◦ Projection: person attributes their own

unacceptable impulses to others.
◦
◦ Repression: anxiety-evoking thoughts are
pushed into the unconscious.

◦ Rationalization: person offers self-

justifying explanations for one’s actions.

◦ Regression:
Freud divided the growth and development
into 5 stages from birth to adulthood. These
stages are:
➢ The oral stage
➢ The anal stage
➢ The phallic stage
➢ The latent stage
➢ The genital stage
 Oral stage—birth to 1.5 years old
◦ Key issue is dependency/trust
◦ Infant achieves gratification through oral
activities such as feeding, thumb sucking
and babbling.
◦ Underindulgence → distrustful and
pessimistic of others.
◦ Overindulgence → naive and overly trusting.
 Anal stage—1.5 to 3 years old
◦ Key issue is self-control
 Parents impose control on child (toilet
training, and other forms of self-control
- and inhibition of urges)
 Overly demanding parents → “control
freaks,” obsessiveness, lack of
confidence.
 Overly lenient parents →lax about
organization, disorganization, messy
 Phallic stage—3 to 6 years old
◦ Key issue is self-worth/view of self
 Children seek to have special, close
relationship with parents.
 Permissive Parenting Style → child’s
sense of self becomes overinflated
arrogant, egotistical.
 Authoritarian Parenting Style → child’s
sense of self is damaged insecure, self-
doubting.
➢ Latency Stage (6 years to Puberty):
◦ This is the period when personality traits and
socially acceptable behaviors and values are deeply
ingrained.

➢ Genital Stage (Puberty through Adulthood):

◦ The main characteristics are profound
Physical, sexual and psychological changes.
◦ Ability to establish mature, adult relationships is
developed.
◦ During this period, the teen-ager is caught in
conflicts about his desires and emotion.
Life is a series of stages. Each individual must pass through each stage.
The way in which a person handles each of these stages affects the person’s
identity and self-concept. These psychosocial stages are:

1. Trust vs. mistrust (birth to 1 year)

2. Autonomy vs. shame & doubt (2 to 3 years)
3. Initiative vs. guilt (4 to 5 years)
4. Industry vs. inferiority (6 to 11 years)
5. Identity vs. role confusion (12 to 18 years)
6. Intimacy vs. isolation (young adulthood)
7. Generativity vs. stagnation (middle adulthood)
8. Integrity vs. despair (older adulthood)
Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory of Human
Development
Ego Integrity vs. Despair
Generativity vs. Stagnation

Intimacy vs. Isolation

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Industry vs.
Inferiority
Initiative vs. Guilt

Autonomy vs.
Shame/Doubt

Trust vs. Mistrust

 This perspective emphasizes that people are
basically good and possess a positive drive
toward self-fulfillment. (self actualization)
 The goal for a humanist is to
develop/promote a positive self-concept

http://www.ship.edu

Abraham Maslow Carl Rogers

(1908-1970) (1902-1987)
29
 Humanistic: Carl Rogers
◦ Self
 the most important part of personality.
◦ Self-concept
 refers to all information and beliefs about
oneself regarding one’s nature, unique qualities
and typical behaviors.
◦ Self-esteem
 Part of one’s self concept involving our
perception of our worth and value as an
individual.
◦ Unconditional positive regard
 acceptance of a person as they are.
◦ Self Actualization
 Humanistic: Abraham Maslow
◦ He proposed that we as individuals are motivated
by a hierarchy of needs. Beginning with
physiological needs, we try to reach the state of
self-actualization—the innate tendency toward
growth that motivates all human behavior and
results in the full realization of a person’s highest
potential.
 An individual’s unique constellation of durable
dispositions and consistent ways of behaving (traits)
constitutes his or her personality.
Each personality is uniquely made up of multiple traits.

Examples of Traits
Honest
Dependable
Moody
Impulsive

33
Albert Bandura (1986,
2001, 2005) believes
that personality is the
result of an interaction
that takes place
between a person and
their social context.

Albert Bandura
 This combination of cognitive, behavioral,
and environmental effects is called reciprocal
determinism.
◦ Another key concept in Bandura’s theory
is - Self-Efficacy , a person’s beliefs about
his or her skills and ability to perform
certain behaviors.

◦ Observational Learning
Goals

1. To assess psychological processes

2. To assess personality traits
3. To aid in diagnosis
4. To formulate treatment plans
➢ Major Types of Personality Inventories

▪ Objective Techniques - Self-Report

Questionnaires
◆ Consist of a series of brief items asking

the respondents to use a multiple-

choice answer format to indicate
personal information about thoughts,
emotions, and past experiences.
▪ Projective Techniques
◆ Require verbal responses to
intentionally ambiguous inkblots,
pictures, or sentence stems that
provide insights into an
individual’s personality.
Personality Assessment Schedule(PAS)
a. Interview of the Person
b. Interview of an informant (Friend,
Relative, Neighbourer)
c. Observation of behavior of the Person
Objective Personality Tests - Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Clinical Scales
1. Hs - Hypochondriasis
2. D - Depression
3. Hy - Hysteria
4. Pd - Psychopathic Deviate
5. Mf - Masculinity–Femininity
6. Pa - Paranoia
7. Pt - Psychasthenia
8. Sc – Schizophrenia
9. Ma – Hypomania
0. Si - Social Introversion
 Depression.  Family Problems.
 Psychopathic deviate.  Ego Strength.
 Paranoia.  College
Maladjustment.
 Schizophrenia.
 Marital Distress Scale.
 Hypomania.
 Self-Alienation.
 Social Introversion.  Somatic Complaints.
 Health Concerns.  Need for Affection.
 Cynicism.  Dominance.
 Type A.  Addiction Potential
Scale.
◦ Projection is an idea developed by Freud in which
people are thought to reveal their true feelings and
thoughts when describing ambiguous stimuli, reveals
information about their personalities, needs, drives,
conflicts etc.
◦ Examples of Projective Tests
 Word Associations.
 Sentence Completions.
 Draw-A-Person Test.
 Rorschach Inkblot Test.
 Thematic Apperception Test.
 Play materials with children.
31 pictures that depict a variety of social and
interpersonal situations. Participants are
requested to write or tell a story about each
picture to the examiner.
Use: To uncover internal conflicts, dominant
drives, interests, and motives.
➢Specific motives include: need for achievement,
need for power, the need for intimacy, and
problem-solving abilities.
 Tell a story by looking at a picture.
 You may expose your conscious or
unconscious ideas through your language
usage.