Chapter 10: Personality:

Theory and Measurement

 Learning Outcomes

• Describe the psychoanalytical perspective and

how it contributed to the study of personality.

• Explain the trait perspective and the “Big Five”

trait model.
 Learning Outcomes

• Identify the contributions of learning theory to

understanding personality.

• Describe the humanistic-existential

perspective on personality.
 Learning Outcomes

• Describe the sociocultural perspective on

personality.

• Describe the different kinds of tests

psychologists use to measure personality.
 What is Personality?

• Personality consists of the reasonably stable

patterns of emotions, motives, and behavior
that distinguish one person from another
The Psychodynamic Perspective
 Psychodynamic Theory

• Sigmund Freud
– Personality
characterized by
conflict
• Conflict is first
external, then
internalized
• Our behavior is the
result of these inner
conflicts
 Sigmund Freud’s
Theory of Psychosexual Development

• Three levels of awareness

– Conscious, preconscious, unconscious
• Unconscious urges are kept below the surface by
repression
• Psychoanalysis
– Form of therapy used to explore the unconscious
mind
The Human Iceberg According
to Freud
 Structure of Personality

• Three psychic structures of personality

– Id – pleasure principle
– Ego – reality principle
• Defense Mechanisms
– Superego – moral principle
• Identification
 Stages of Psychosexual Development

• Stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital

– OAPhaLaGe
• Fixations at any stage are expressed by
characteristics of that stage
– Oral Fixation
– Anal Fixation
 Stages of Psychosexual Development

• Oral Stage
– Conflict centers on nature and extent of oral
gratification
– Excessive or insufficient gratification leads to
fixation
• Anal Stage
– Focuses on the control of elimination of waste
– Learn to delay gratification – self-control
 Stages of Psychosexual Development

• Phallic Stage
– Oedipus or Electra complex
– Resolved through identification with same sex
parent
• Latency
– Sexual feelings remain unconscious
• Genital Stage
– Incest taboo
 Neo-Freudians

• Carl Jung - Analytical Psychology

– Downplayed importance of sexual instinct
– Collective unconscious
– Archetypes
 Neo-Freudians

• Alfred Adler – Individual Psychology

– People are motivated by an inferiority complex
– Drive for superiority
– Creative self
 Neo-Freudians

• Karen Horney
– Argued girls do not
feel inferior to boys
– Social relationships
are more important
than unconscious
sexual and
aggressive impulses
 Neo-Freudians

• Erik Erikson –
Psychosocial
Development
– Eight stages named for
traits that should
develop at each stage
• First stage – trust versus
mistrust
• Goal of adolescence is
attainment of ego identity
Neo-Freudians
 Evaluation of Psychodynamic
Perspective

• Shift to examination of problems as having a

psychological source
• Focused attention on childhood experiences
• No evidence for existence of psychic
structures
• Problems with clinical method for gathering
evidence
 Truth or Fiction?

• Biting one’s fingernails or smoking cigarettes is

a sign of conflict experienced during early
childhood.
 Truth or Fiction?

• Biting one’s fingernails or smoking cigarettes is

a sign of conflict experienced during early
childhood.

• FICTION!
The Trait Perspective
 What are Traits?

• Traits are reasonably stable elements of

personality that are inferred from behavior
 History of the Trait Perspective

• Hippocrates (ca. 460-377 BCE)

– Personality depends on the balance of four fluids
(humors) in the body
– Disease was reflected by imbalance and was
restored through bloodletting and vomiting
• Yellow Bile [Choleric/Gallblader]
• Blood [Sanguine/Liver]
• Mucous [Phlegm/Lungs]
• Black Bile [Melancholic/Spleen]
 Truth or Fiction?

• Bloodletting and vomiting were once

recommended as ways of coping with
depression.
 Truth or Fiction?

• Bloodletting and vomiting were once

recommended as ways of coping with
depression.

• TRUE!
 History of the Trait Perspective

• Charles Spearman – factor analysis

– Heritable traits embedded in nervous system
• Gordon Allport (1936)
– Catalogued 18,000 human traits
 Hans Eysenck’s Trait Theory

• Focus on relationship between

– Introversion – Extraversion
– Stability – Instability (Neuroticism)
 Truth or Fiction?

• Twenty-five hundred years ago, a Greek

physician devised a way of looking at
personality that—with a little “tweaking” —
remains in use today.
 Truth or Fiction?

• Twenty-five hundred years ago, a Greek

physician devised a way of looking at
personality that—with a little “tweaking” —
remains in use today.

• TRUE!
Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions and
Hippocrates’ Personality Types
 The “Big Five”: The Five-Factor Model

• Five basic personality factors

– extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness,
agreeableness, openness to experience
• Research has shown cross-cultural application
and relationship to inborn temperament
• Popular means of developing personality
“types”
The “Big Five”: The Five-Factor Model
 Truth or Fiction?

• Actually, there are no basic personality traits.

We are all conditioned by society to behave in
certain ways.
 Truth or Fiction?

• Actually, there are no basic personality traits.

We are all conditioned by society to behave in
certain ways.

• FICTION!
 Biology and Traits

• Biological factors related to traits

– Heredity, Neurotransmitters
• Temperament
– Shyness and behavioral inhibition
– Antisocial personality disorder
 Evaluation of Trait Model

• Personality tests have been used to identify

“types” related to certain occupations
• Trait theory has been more descriptive than
explanatory
 Positive Psychology and Trait Theory

• Character Strengths and Virtues

– Virtuous traits
Learning-Theory Perspectives
 Behaviorism

• John B. Watson
– Focus on determinants of observable behavior,
not unseen, undetectable, unconscious forces
• B.F. Skinner
– Emphasized the effects of reinforcements on
behavior
• Criticism
– Ignored the role of choice and consciousness
 Social Cognitive Theory

• Albert Bandura
– Focuses on learning by observation and cognitive
processes of personal differences
• Person and Situational Variables
Person Variables and Situational
Variables in Social-Cognitive Theory
 Social Cognitive Theory

• Predicting behavior is based on

– Expectancies about the outcome, and
– Subjective values perceived about those outcomes
• Self-efficacy expectations
– Beliefs we can accomplish certain things
 Observational Learning

• Modeling or cognitive learning

– Acquiring knowledge by observing others
 Biology, Social Cognition, and Gender-
Typing

• Gender-Typing
– Evolution – natural selection
– Biology – prenatal levels of sex hormones
– Social cognition – observation
• Gender Schema Theory
– gender schema
 Evaluation of Learning Perspective

• Emphasize observable behaviors which can be

measured
• Emphasize environmental conditions
– Avoid internal variables
• Social cognitive theory does not explain self-
awareness and genetic variation
The Humanistic-Existential Perspective
 What is Humanism?

• Humanism argues people are capable of

– free choice
– self-fulfillment
– ethical behavior
• Existentialism
 Abraham Maslow and the
Challenge of Self-Actualization

• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

– Conscious need for self-actualization
 Carl Rogers’ Self Theory

• Self
– Your ongoing sense of who and what you are
– Your sense of how and why you react to the
environment
– How you choose to act on the environment
• Self Theory
– Focuses on nature of self and conditions that
allow the self to develop freely
 Self-Concept and Frames of Reference

• Self-Concept
– Our impressions of ourselves and our evaluations
of our adequacy
• Frames of Reference
– The way in which we look at ourselves and the
world
 Self-Esteem and Positive Regard

• Unconditional positive regard

– Accept child as having intrinsic merit regardless of
present behavior
• Conditional positive regard
– Accept child only when they behave in the desired
manner
• Conditions of Worth
– Develop in response to conditional positive regard
 Evaluation of Humanistic-Existential
Perspective

• Focus on conscious experience

– Private and subjective
• Does not address development of traits and
personality types
The Sociocultural Perspective
 Individualism Versus Collectivism

• Individualist
– Define self in terms of personal identities
– Give priority to personal goals
• Collectivist
– Define self in terms of groups to which you belong
– Give priority to the group’s goals
The Self in Relation to Others from the Individualist and
Collectivist Perspectives
 Truth or Fiction?

• The most well-adjusted immigrants are those

who abandon the language and customs of
their country of origin and become like
members of the dominant culture in their new
host country.
 Truth or Fiction?

• The most well-adjusted immigrants are those

who abandon the language and customs of
their country of origin and become like
members of the dominant culture in their new
host country.

• FICTION!
 Acculturation, Adjustment and Self-
Esteem

• Acculturation
• Patterns of Adjustment
– Complete assimilation, Bicultural, Complete
separation
• Highest self-esteem in those who do not
surrender their culture
 Evaluation of Sociocultural Perspective

• Considers roles of ethnicity, gender, culture,

and socioeconomic status in personality
formation
• Enhances our sensitivity to cultural differences
and expectations
Measurement of Personality
 Characteristics of Scientific Personality
Tests

• Validity
– Extent to which test measures what it is supposed
to measure
• Reliability
– Stability of one’s test results from one testing to
another
• Standardization
 Use of Personality Tests

• Behavior-rating scales
– Classrooms or mental hospitals
• Decision making
– Occupations, School, Medications
• Aptitude and interest scales
 Truth or Fiction?

• Psychologists can determine whether a person

has told the truth on a personality test.
 Truth or Fiction?

• Psychologists can determine whether a person

has told the truth on a personality test.

• FICTION!
 Objective Tests

• Respondents are presented with standardized

group of test items in form of questionnaire
– Forced-choice format
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI)
– Designed to diagnose psychological disorders
 Truth or Fiction?

• There is a psychological test made up of

inkblots, and test-takers are asked to say what
the blots look like to them.
 Truth or Fiction?

• There is a psychological test made up of

inkblots, and test-takers are asked to say what
the blots look like to them.

• TRUE!
 Projective Tests

• No clear, specified answers

• Rorschach Inkblot Test
– Response that reflects the shape of the inkblot
• Sign of adequate reality testing
– Response that integrates several features of the
blot
• Sign of high intellectual functioning
An Inkblot Test
 Projective Tests

• Thematic Apperception Test

– Individuals are asked to make up stories about
drawings that are open to various interpretations
– Widely used in research on motivation and to
determine attitudes toward others