Personality

• Hippocrates Humor theory blood test

• Blood It was associated with
a sanguine nature (enthusiastic, active, and
social)
• Yellow bile choleric nature (ambitious,
decisive, aggressive, and short-tempered
• Black bile melancholy nature (cold and dry
characteristics)
• Phlegm reserved behavior
Chinese personality
classification
• Earth
• Wind
• Water
• Metal
• Fire
Personality

An individual’s unique and relatively stable patterns of behavior,

thoughts, and emotions

Interactionist Perspective: The view that behavior in any

situations is a function of both personality and external factors.
Levels of Consciousness
• Most of the mind lies below the surface  below the threshold of conscious experience.

• Conscious.

• Includes our current thoughts|| whatever we are thinking about or experiencing at a given moment.

• Preconscious

• much larger || This contains memories that are not part of current thought but can readily be brought to
mind if the need arises.

• Unconscious

• Forms the bulk of the human mind  thoughts, desires, and impulses of which we remain largely unaware

• Much of it was once conscious but has been actively repressed—driven from consciousness because it
was too anxiety-provoking.

• Freud believed that many of the symptoms experienced by his patients were disguised and indirect
reflections of repressed thoughts and desires.

• Psychoanalysis  the method of treating psychological disorders by bringing repressed material back into
consciousness.

• one way of probing the unconscious was through the interpretation of dreams.
Structure of Personality
• Id
• All our primitive, innate urges || bodily needs, sexual desire, and aggressive impulses
• Unconscious and acts pleasure principle  It demands immediate, total gratification and is not capable of considering the
potential costs of seeking this goal.
• Ego
• Hold the id in check until conditions allow for satisfaction of its impulses.
• Reality principle Takes into account external conditions and the consequences of various actions and directs behavior so as to
maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
• its eternal struggle with the id are outside our conscious knowledge or understanding.
• Superego
• Seeks to control satisfaction of id impulses; but is concerned with morality
• Superego permits us to gratify such impulses only when it is morally correct to do so  not simply when it is safe or feasible, as
required by the ego.
• Superego is acquired from our parents and through experience and represents our internalization of the moral teachings and
norms of our society.
• The constant struggle among id, ego, and superego plays a key role in personality and in many psychological disorders.
• Struggle was often visible in everyday behavior in what have come to be known as Freudian slips  errors in speech that actually reflect
unconscious impulses that have “gotten by” the ego or superego.
Humanistic Theories
• Haters of Id versus ego logic
• Nature
• Emphasize personal responsibility  we are
responsible for what happens to us.
• Though past experience is relevant focus should be on
the present  we have the capacity to overcome
trauma
• Stress on personal growth people will always wish
to progress toward “bigger” goals
 Abraham Maslow
• Needs hierarchy theory
• The needs of human beings exist in
hierarchy  physiological needs, safety
needs, social needs, esteem needs, and
finally self-actualization needs at the top.
• Lower-order needs must be satisfied
before we can turn to more complex,
higher-order needs
• Higher-order needs can’t serve as motives
until lower-level needs have been
satisfied.
 Trait Theories

Let's focus on identifying key dimensions of personality—the most

important ways in which people differ.

Once we identify the key dimensions along which people differ, we can
measure how much they differ and can then relate such differences to
many important forms of behavior

Clusters—groups of traits that seem to go together.

Raymond Cattell
Tried to identify the basic dimensions of personality  extensive research in which literally
thousands of persons responded to measures designed to reflect individual differences on
hundreds of traits.
Identify important clusters of traits  groups of traits that seem to be closely linked to one
another.

Cattell and his associates identified sixteen source traits  dimensions of personality that
underlie differences in many other, less important surface traits.

Let’s try this!!!!

Big 5 Personality
 Self Report Questionnaires
• Asking individuals to respond to a self-report inventory or
questionnaire.
• Contain questions or statements to which individuals
respond in various ways.
• Eg: I get along well with others (1 = strongly disagree, 2 =
disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree
Types of Projective Techniques
Personality Tests • Presented individuals with ambiguous stimuli stimuli
that can be interpreted in many different ways.
• Eg. The Rorschach test standard scoring manual (Exner,
1993)

Other Methods-
• Behavioral Observation (participant and non-participant),
Interviews (In-depth and group), Biological (PET scans)
MBTI- Myers Briggs Type Indicator
 EXTRAVERSION INTROVERSION

• Direct energy outward toward people • Direct energy inward toward ideas
and things and concepts
• Orientation – after thinkers • Orientation – fore thinkers
• Work Environment • Work Environment
• Action-oriented • Quiet and concentrated
• Prefer to be around others • Prefer to be alone
• Many interests • Interests have depth
 SENSING INTUITION

• Focus on five senses(experience) • Focus on the possibilities(sixth sense)

• Details, practicality, reality • Patterns and expectations
• Work Environment • Work Environment
• Prefer learned skills • Prefer adding new skills
• Pay attention to details • Looks at the big picture
• Make few factual errors • Patient with complexity
 THINKING FEELING

• Focus – logic of a situation, truth and • Focus – human values and needs,
principles people and harmony
• Work Environment – brief and • Work Environment – friendly and
businesslike personal
• Contributions – intellectual criticism, • Contributions – loyal support, care
solutions to problems and concern for others
 JUDGING PERCEPTION

• Attitude – decisive, want control and • Attitude – curious, spontaneous,

prefer order and structure. flexible, adaptable, tolerant
• Work Environment – focus on • Work Environment – focus on
completing tasks, makes decisions starting tasks, postpones decisions
quickly