Personality psychology | Wikipedia audio article
Personality psychology is a branch of psychology
that studies personality and its variation among individuals. It is a scientific study
which aims to show how people are individually different due to psychological forces. Its
areas of focus include: the construction of a coherent picture of the
individual and their major psychological processes investigation of individual psychological
differences investigation of human nature and psychological
similarities between individuals”Personality” is a dynamic and organized set of characteristics
possessed by a person that uniquely influences their environment, cognitions, emotions, motivations,
and behaviors in various situations.
The word personality originates from the Latin persona,
which means “mask”. Personality also refers to the pattern of
thoughts, feelings, social adjustments, and behaviors consistently exhibited over time
that strongly influences one’s expectations, self-perceptions, values, and attitudes. Personality
also predicts human reactions to other people, problems, and stress. Gordon Allport (1937)
described two major ways to study personality: the nomothetic and the idiographic. Nomothetic
psychology seeks general laws that can be applied to many different people, such as
the principle of self-actualization or the trait of extraversion. Idiographic psychology
is an attempt to understand the unique aspects of a particular individual.
The study of personality has a broad and varied history in psychology with an abundance of
theoretical trad. The major theories include dispositional (trait) perspectives, psychodynamic,
humanistic, biological, behaviorist, evolutionary, and social learning perspectives.
However,
many researchers and psychologists do not explicitly identify themselves with a certain
perspective and instead take an eclectic approach. Research in this area is empirically driven,
such as dimensional models, based on multivariate statistics, such as factor analysis, or emphasizes
theory development, such as that the psychodynamic theory. There is also a substantial emphasis
on the applied field of personality testing. In psychological education and training, the
study of the nature of personality and its psychological development is usually reviewed
as a prerequisite to courses in abnormal psychology or clinical psychology.
== Philosophical assumptions ==
Many of the ideas developed by historical and modern personality theorists stem from
the basic philosophical assumptions they hold. The study of personality is not a purely empirical
discipline, as it brings in elements of art, science, and philosophy to draw general conclusions.
The following five categories are some of the most fundamental philosophical assumptions
on which theorists disagree: Freedom versus determinism – This is the
question of whether humans have control over their behavior and understand the motives
behind it or if their behavior is causally determined by forces beyond their control.
Behavior is categorized as being either unconscious, environmental, or biological by various theories.
Heredity versus environment – Personality is thought to be determined largely either
by genetics and biology or by environment and experiences.
Contemporary research suggests
that most personality traits are based on the joint influence of genetics and environment.
One of the forerunners in this arena is C. Robert Cloninger, who pioneered the Temperament
and Character model. Uniqueness versus universality – This question
discusses the extent of each human’s individuality (uniqueness) or similarity in nature (universality).
Gordon Allport, Abraham Maslow, and Carl Rogers were all advocates of the uniqueness of individuals.
Behaviorists and cognitive theorists, in contrast, emphasize the importance of universal principles,
such as reinforcement and self-efficacy. Active versus reactive – This question explores
whether humans primarily act through individual initiative (active) or outside stimuli.
Traditional behavioral theorists typically believed that humans are passively shaped
by their environments, whereas humanistic and cognitive theorists believe that humans
are more active in their roles.
Most modern theorists agree that both are important, with
aggregate behavior being primarily determined by traits and situational factors being the
the primary predictor of behavior in the short term.
Optimistic versus pessimistic – Personality theories differ about whether humans
are integral in the changing of their personalities. Theories that place a great
deal of emphasis on learning are often more optimistic than those that do not. == Personality theories == === Type theories ===
Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of people.
Personality types are distinguished from personality traits, which come in different degrees. There
are many types of theories regarding personality, but each theory contains several and sometimes
many sub-theories. A “theory of personality” constructed by any given psychologist will
contain multiple related theories or sub-theories often expanding as more psychologists
explore the theory.
For example, according to type theories, there are two types of people,
introverts and extroverts. According to trait theories, introversion and extroversion are
part of a continuous dimension with many people in the middle. The idea of psychological types
originated in the theoretical work of Carl Jung, specifically in his 1921 book Psychologische
Typen (Psychological Types) and William Marston.Building on the writings and observations of Jung during
In World War II, Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother, Katharine C. Briggs, delineated personality
types by constructing the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. This model was later used by David
Keirsey with a different understanding from Jung, Briggs, and Myers. In the former Soviet
Union, Lithuanian Aušra Augustinavičiūtė independently derived a model of personality
type from Jung’s called socionics. Theories could also be considered an “approach”
to personality or psychology and is generally referred to as a model. The model is an older
and more theoretical approach to personality, accepting extroversion and introversion as
basic psychological orientations in connection with two pairs of psychological functions: Perceiving functions: sensing, and intuition
(trust in concrete, sensory-oriented facts vs. trust in abstract concepts and imagined
possibilities) Judging functions: thinking and feeling (basing
decisions primarily on logic vs.
Deciding based on emotion). Briggs and Myers also added
another personality dimension to their type indicator to measure whether a person prefers
to use a judging or perceiving function when interacting with the external world. Therefore,
they included questions designed to indicate whether someone wishes to come to conclusions
(judgment) or to keep options open (perception). This personality typology has some aspects of a
trait theory: it explains people’s behavior in terms of opposite fixed characteristics.
In these more traditional models, the sensing/intuition preference is considered the most basic, dividing
people into “N” (intuitive) or “S” (sensing) personality types.
An “N” is further assumed
to be guided either by thinking or feeling and divided into the “NT” (scientist, engineer)
or “NF” (author, humanitarian) temperament. An “S”, in contrast, is assumed to be guided
more by the judgment/perception axis and thus divided into the “SJ” (guardian, traditionalist)
or “SP” (performer, artisan) temperament. These four are considered basic, with the
other two factors in each case (including always extraversion/introversion) less important.
Critics of this traditional view have observed that the types can be quite strongly stereotyped
by professions (although neither Myers nor Keirsey engaged in such stereotyping in their
type descriptions), and thus may arise more from the need to categorize people for purposes
of guiding their career choice. This among other objections led to the emergence of the
five-factor view, which is less concerned with behavior under work conditions and more
concerned with behavior in personal and emotional circumstances. (It should be noted, however,
that the MBTI is not designed to measure the “work self”, but rather what Myers and McCaulley
called the “shoes-off self.”) Type A and Type B personality theory: During
the 1950s, Meyer Friedman and his co-workers defined what they called Type A and Type B
behavior patterns.
They theorized that intense, hard-driving Type A personalities had a higher
risk of coronary disease because they are “stress junkies.” Type B people, on the other
hand, tended to be relaxed, less competitive, and lower in risk. There was also a Type AB
mixed profile. John L. Holland’s RIASEC vocational model
commonly referred to as the Holland Codes stipulates that six personality types lead
people to choose their career paths. In this circumplex model, the six types are represented
as a hexagon, with adjacent types more closely related than those more distant. The model
is widely used in vocational counseling.
Eduard Spranger’s personality model, consisting
of six (or, by some revisions, 6 +1) basic types of value attitudes, described in his
book Types of Men (Lebensformen; Halle (Saale): Niemeyer, 1914; English translation by P.
J. W. Pigors – New York: G. E. Stechert Company, 1928).
The Enneagram of Personality, is a model of human personality which is principally used as a
typology of nine interconnected personality types. It has been criticized as being subject
to interpretation, making it difficult to test or validate scientifically.
Perhaps the most ancient attempt at personality psychology is the personality typology outlined
by the Indian Buddhist Abhidharma schools.
This typology mostly focuses on negative personal
traits (greed, hatred, and delusion) and the corresponding positive meditation practices
used to counter those traits. === Psychoanalytic theories ===
Psychoanalytic theories explain human behavior in terms of the interaction of various components
of personality. Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school of thought. Freud drew on the
physics of his day (thermodynamics) to coin the term psychodynamics. Based on the idea
of converting heat into mechanical energy, he proposed psychic energy could be converted
into behavior. Freud’s theory places central importance on dynamic, unconscious psychological
conflicts. Freud divides human personality into three significant components: the id,
ego, and super-ego. The id acts according to the pleasure principle, demanding immediate
gratification of its needs regardless of the external environment; the ego then must emerge to realistically meet the wishes and demands of the id by the outside world,
adhering to the reality principle.
Finally, the superego (conscience) inculcates moral
judgment and societal rules upon the ego, thus forcing the demands of the id to be met
not only realistically but morally. The superego is the last function of the personality to
develop and is the embodiment of parental/social ideals established during childhood. According
to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic interactions of these three components. The
channeling and release of sexual (libidinal) and aggressive energies, which ensues from
the “Eros” (sex; instinctual self-preservation) and “Thanatos” (death; instinctual self-annihilation)
drives respectively are major components of his theory. It is important to note that
Freud’s broad understanding of sexuality included all kinds of pleasurable feelings experienced
by the human body. Freud proposed five psychosexual stages of
personality development. He believed adult personality is dependent upon early childhood
experiences and largely determined by age five. Fixations that develop during the infantile
stage contribute to adult personality and behavior.
One of Sigmund Freud’s earlier associates, Alfred Adler, did agree with Freud that early
childhood experiences are important to the development and believed birth order may influence personality
development. Adler believed that the oldest child was the individual who would set high
achievement goals to gain attention lost when the younger siblings were born.
He believed the middle children were competitive and ambitious.
He reasoned that this behavior
was motivated by the idea of surpassing the firstborn’s achievements. He added, however,
that the middle children were often not as concerned about the glory attributed to
their behavior. He also believed the youngest would be more dependent and sociable. Adler
finished by surmising that an only child loves being the center of attention and matures
quickly but in the end fails to become independent. Heinz Kohut thought similarly to Freud’s idea
of transference. He used narcissism as a model of how people develop their sense of self.
Narcissism is the exaggerated sense of oneself in which one is believed to exist to protect one’s low self-esteem and sense of worthlessness.
Kohut had a significant
impact on the field by extending Freud’s theory of narcissism and introducing what he called
the ‘self-object transferences’ of mirroring and idealization. In other words, children
need to idealize and emotionally “sink into” and identify with the idealized competence
of admired figures such as parents or older siblings. They also need to have their self-worth
mirrored by these people. These experiences allow them to thereby learn the self-soothing
and other skills that are necessary for the development of a healthy sense of self.
Another important figure in the world of personality theory is Karen Horney. She is credited with
the development of the “real self” and the “ideal self”. She believes all people have
these two views of their self.
The “real self” is how humans act about personality,
values, and morals; but the “ideal self” is a construct individuals implement to conform to social and personal norms. === Behaviorist theories ===
Behaviorists explain personality in terms of the effects external stimuli have on behavior.
The approaches used to analyze the behavioral aspect of personality are known as behavioral
theories or learning-conditioning theories. These approaches were a radical shift away
from Freudian philosophy. One of the major tenets of this concentration of personality
psychology is a strong emphasis on scientific thinking and experimentation. This school
of thought was developed by B. F. Skinner who put forth a model which emphasized the
mutual interaction of the person or “the organism” with its environment. Skinner believed children
do bad things because the behavior obtains attention that serves as a reinforcer. For
example, a child cries because the child’s crying in the past has led to attention. These
are the response and consequences.
The response is the child crying, and the attention that
child gets is the reinforcing consequence. According to this theory, people’s behavior
is formed by processes such as operant conditioning. Skinner put forward a “three-term contingency
model” which helped promote analysis of behavior based on the “Stimulus – Response – Consequence
Model” in which the critical question is: “Under which circumstances or antecedent ‘stimuli’
does the organism engage in a particular behavior or ‘response’, which in turn produces a particular
‘consequence’?”Richard Herrnstein extended this theory by accounting for attitudes and
traits. An attitude develops as the response strength (the tendency to respond) in the
presence of a group of stimuli becomes stable. Rather than describing conditionable traits
in non-behavioral language, response strength in a given situation accounts for the environmental
portion. Herrnstein also saw traits as having a large genetic or biological component, as
do most modern behaviorists. Ivan Pavlov is another notable influence. He is well known
for his classical conditioning experiments involving dogs, which led him to discover
the foundation of behaviorism.
=== Social cognitive theories ===
In cognitive theory, behavior is explained as guided by cognitions (e.g. expectations)
about the world, especially those about other people. Cognitive theories are theories of
personality that emphasize cognitive processes, such as thinking and judging.
Albert Bandura, a social learning theorist suggested the forces of memory and emotions
worked in conjunction with environmental influences. Bandura was known mostly for his “Bobo doll
experiment”. During these experiments, Bandura video taped a college student kicking and
verbally abusing a bobo doll. He then showed this video to a class of kindergarten children
who were getting ready to go out to play.
When they entered the playroom, they saw
bobo dolls and some hammers. The people observing these children at play saw a group of children
beating the doll. He called this study and his findings observational learning, or modeling.
Early examples of approaches to cognitive style are listed by Baron (1982). These include
Witkin’s (1965) work on field dependency, Gardner’s (1953) discovery people had a consistent
preference for the number of categories they used to categorize heterogeneous objects, and Block and Petersen’s (1955) work on confidence in line discrimination judgments. Baron relates
the early development of cognitive approaches to personality to ego psychology. More central
to this field have been: The attributional style theory dealing with different
ways in which people explain events in their lives. This approach builds upon the locus of
control but extends it by stating we also need to consider whether people attribute
to stable causes or variable causes, and global causes or specific causes. Various scales
have been developed to assess both attributional style and locus of control.
Locus of control
scales include those used by Rotter and later by Duttweiler, the Nowicki, and Strickland
(1973) Locus of Control Scale for Children and various locus of control scales specifically
in the health domain, most famously that of Kenneth Wallston and his colleagues, The Multidimensional
Health Locus of Control Scale. Attributional style has been assessed by the Attributional
Style Questionnaire, the Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire, the Attributions Questionnaire,
the Real Events Attributional Style Questionnaire and the Attributional Style Assessment Test.
Achievement style theory focuses on the identification of an individual’s Locus of Control tendency,
such as by Rotter’s evaluations, and was found by Cassandra Bolyard Whyte to provide valuable
information for improving the academic performance of students.
Individuals with internal control
tendencies are likely to persist to better academic performance levels, presenting an
achievement personality, according to Cassandra B. Whyte. Recognition that the tendency to
believe that hard work and persistence often result in the attainment of life and academic
goals has influenced formal educational and counseling efforts with students of various
ages and in various settings since the 1970s research about achievement. Counseling aimed
toward encouraging individuals to design ambitious goals and work toward them, with the recognition
that there are external factors that may impact, often results in the incorporation of a more
positive achievement style by students and employees, whatever the setting, to include
higher education, workplace, or justice programming. Walter Mischel (1999) has also defended a cognitive
approach to personality. His work refers to “Cognitive Affective Units”, and considers
factors such as encoding of stimuli, affect, goal-setting, and self-regulatory beliefs.
The term “Cognitive Affective Units” shows how his approach considers affecting as well
as cognition.
Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST)
is another cognitive personality theory. Developed by Seymour Epstein, CEST argues that humans
operate by way of two independent information processing systems: experiential system and
rational system. The experiential system is fast and emotion-driven. The rational system
is slow and logic-driven. These two systems interact to determine our goals, thoughts,
and behavior. Personal construct psychology (PCP) is a theory of personality developed
by the American psychologist George Kelly in the 1950s. Kelly’s fundamental view of
personality was that people are like naive scientists who see the world through a particular
lens, based on their uniquely organized systems of construction, which they use to anticipate
events. But because people are naive scientists, they sometimes employ systems for construing
the world that is distorted by idiosyncratic experiences not applicable to their current
social situation.
A system of construction that chronically fails to characterize and/or
predict events, and is not appropriately revised to comprehend and predict one’s changing social
the world is considered to underlie psychopathology (or mental illness.)
From the theory, Kelly derived a psychotherapy approach and also a technique called The Repertory
Grid Interview helped his patients to uncover their own “constructs” with minimal
intervention or interpretation by the therapist. The repertory grid was later adapted for various
uses within organizations, including decision-making and interpretation of other people’s worldviews.
=== Humanistic theories ===
Humanistic psychology emphasizes that people have free will and that this plays an active
role in determining how they behave. Accordingly, humanistic psychology focuses on subjective
experiences of persons as opposed to forced, definitive factors that determine behavior.
Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers were proponents of this view, which is based on the “phenomenal
field” theory of Combs and Snygg (1949). Rogers and Maslow were among a group of psychologists
that worked together for a decade to produce the Journal of Humanistic Psychology. This
journal was primarily focused on viewing individuals as a whole, rather than focusing solely on
separate traits and processes within the individual. Robert W. White wrote the book The Abnormal
Personality which became a standard text on abnormal psychology. He also investigated
the human need to strive for positive goals like competence and influence, to counterbalance
the emphasis of Freud on the pathological elements of personality development. Maslow
spent much of his time studying what he called “self-actualizing persons”, those who are
“fulfilling themselves and doing the best they are capable of doing”.
Maslow believes
all who are interested in growth move towards self-actualizing (growth, happiness, satisfaction)
views. Many of these people demonstrate a trend in the dimensions of their personalities.
Characteristics of self-actualizes according to Maslow include the four key dimensions:
Awareness – maintaining constant enjoyment and awe of life. These individuals often experienced
a “peak experience”. He defined a peak experience as an “intensification of any experience to
the degree there is a loss or transcendence of self”. A peak experience is one in which
an individual perceives an expansion of themselves, and detects a unity and meaningfulness in
life. Intense concentration on an activity one is involved in, such as running a marathon,
may invoke a peak experience.
Reality and problem-centered – tending to be concerned with “problems” in surroundings.
Acceptance/Spontaneity – accepting surroundings and what cannot be changed.
Unhostile sense of humor/democratic – do not take kindly to joking about others, which
can be viewed as offensive. They have friends of all backgrounds and religions and hold
very close friendships. Maslow and Rogers emphasized a view of the person as an active, creative,
experiencing human being who lives in the present and subjectively responds to current
perceptions, relationships, and encounters. They disagree with the dark, pessimistic outlook
of those in the Freudian psychoanalysis ranks, but rather view humanistic theories as optimistic proposals which stress the tendency of the human personality toward growth
and self-actualization. This progressing self will remain the center of its constantly changing
world; a world that will help mold the self but not necessarily confine it.
Rather, the
self has an opportunity for maturation based on its encounters with this world. This understanding
attempts to reduce the acceptance of hopeless redundancy. Humanistic therapy typically relies
on the client for information about the past and its effect on the present, therefore the
client dictates the type of guidance the therapist may initiate. This allows for an individualized
approach to therapy. Rogers found patients differ in how they respond to other people.
Rogers tried to model a particular approach to therapy- he stressed the reflective or
empathetic response.
This response type takes the client’s viewpoint and reflects on their
feeling and the context for it. An example of a reflective response would be, “It seems
you are feeling anxious about your upcoming marriage”. This response type seeks to clarify
the therapist’s understanding while also encouraging the client to think more deeply and seek to
fully understand the feelings they have expressed. === Biopsychological theories === Biology plays a very important role in the
development of personality. The study of the biological level in personality psychology
focuses primarily on identifying the role of genetic determinants and how they mold
individual personalities. Some of the earliest thinking about possible biological bases of
personality grew out of the case of Phineas Gage. In an 1848 accident, a large iron rod
was driven through Gage’s head, and his personality changed as a result, although descriptions
of these psychological changes are usually exaggerated. In general, patients with brain
damage have been difficult to find and study.
In the 1990s, researchers began to use electroencephalography
(EEG), positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI), which is now the most widely used imaging technique to help localize personality
traits in the brain. ==== Genetic basis of personality ====
Ever since the Human Genome Project allowed for a much more in-depth understanding of
genetics, there has been an ongoing controversy involving heritability, personality traits,
and environmental vs. genetic influence on personality. The human genome is known to
play a role in the development of personality. Previously, genetic personality studies focused
on specific genes correlating to specific personality traits. Today’s view of the gene-personality
the relationship focuses primarily on the activation and expression of genes related to personality
and forms part of what is referred to as behavioral genetics.
Genes provide numerous options for
varying cells to be expressed; however, the environment determines which of these are
activated. Many studies have noted this relationship in varying ways in which our bodies can develop,
but the interaction between genes and the shaping of our minds and personality is also
relevant to this biological relationship. DNA-environment interactions are important
in the development of the personality because this relationship determines what part of
the DNA code is made into proteins that will become part of an individual. It
has been noted that while different choices are made available by the genome, in the end,
the environment is the ultimate determinant of what becomes activated. Small changes in
DNA in individuals is what leads to the uniqueness of every person as well as differences in
looks, abilities, brain functioning, and all the factors that culminate to develop a cohesive
personality. Cattell and Eysenck have proposed that genetics have a strong influence on personality.
A large part of the evidence collected linking genetics and the environment to personality
has come from twin studies.
This “twin method” compares levels of similarity in personality
using genetically identical twins. One of the first of these twin studies measured 800
pairs of twins studied numerous personality traits and determined that identical twins
are most similar in their general abilities. Personality similarities were found to be
less related to self-concepts, goals, and interests. Twin studies have also been important
in the creation of the five-factor personality model: neuroticism, extraversion, openness,
agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Neuroticism and extraversion are the two most widely studied
traits. A person that may fall into the extravert category can display characteristics such
as impulsiveness, sociability, and activeness. A person falling into the neuroticism category
may be more likely to be moody, anxious, or irritable. Identical twins, however, have
higher correlations in personality traits than fraternal twins. One study measuring
genetic influence on twins in five different countries found that the correlations for
identical twins were .50, while for fraternal they were about .20. It is suggested that
heredity and environment interact to determine one’s personality. === Evolutionary theory ===
Charles Darwin is the founder of the theory of the evolution of the species.
The evolutionary
approach to personality psychology is based on this theory. This theory examines how individual
personality differences are based on natural selection. Through natural selection, organisms
change over time through adaptation and selection. Traits are developed and certain genes come
into expression based on an organism’s environment and how these traits aid in an organism’s
survival and reproduction. Polymorphisms, such as gender and blood type,
are forms of diversity that evolve to benefit a species as a whole. The theory of evolution
has wide-ranging implications for personality psychology. Personality viewed through the
lens of evolutionary psychology places a great deal of emphasis on specific traits that are
most likely to aid in survival and reproduction, such as conscientiousness, sociability, emotional
stability, and dominance.
The social aspects of personality can be seen from an evolutionary
perspective. Specific character traits develop and are selected because they play an
important and complex role in the social hierarchy of organisms. Such characteristics of this
social hierarchy include the sharing of important resources, family and mating interactions,
and the harm or help organisms can bestow upon one another. === Drive theories ===
In the 1930s, John Dollard and Neal Elgar Miller met at Yale University, and began an
attempt to integrate drives (see Drive theory), into a theory of personality, basing themselves
on the work of Clark Hull. They began with the premise that personality could be equated
with the habitual responses exhibited by an individual – their habits. From there, they
determined that these habitual responses were built on secondary, or acquired drives.
Secondary drives are internal needs directing the behavior of an individual that results
from learning. Acquired drives are learned, by and large in the manner described by classical
conditioning.
When we are in a certain environment and experience a strong response to a stimulus,
we internalize cues from the said environment. When we find ourselves in an environment with
similar cues, we begin to act in anticipation of a similar stimulus. Thus, we are likely
to experience anxiety in an environment with cues similar to one where we have experienced
pain or fear – such as the dentist’s office. Secondary drives are built on primary drives,
which are biologically driven, and motivate us to act with no prior learning process – such
as hunger, thirst, or the need for sexual activity. However, secondary drives are thought to represent
more specific elaborations of primary drives, behind which the functions of the original
primary drive continue to exist. Thus, the primary drives of fear and pain exist behind
the acquired drive of anxiety. Secondary drives can be based on multiple primary drives and
even on other secondary drives. This is said to give them strength and persistence.
Examples
include the need for money, which was conceptualized as arising from multiple primary drives such
as the drive for food and warmth, as well as from secondary drives such as imitativeness
(the drive to do as others do) and anxiety. Secondary drives vary based on the social conditions
under which they were learned – such as culture. Dollard and Miller used the example
of food, stating that the primary drive of hunger manifested itself behind the learned
secondary drive of an appetite for a specific type of food, which was dependent on the culture
of the individual. Secondary drives are also explicitly social, representing a manner in
which we convey our primary drives to others. Indeed, many primary drives are actively repressed
by society (such as the sexual drive).
Dollard and Miller believed that the acquisition of
secondary drives was essential to childhood development. As children develop, they learn
not to act on their primary drives, such as hunger but acquire secondary drives through
reinforcement. Friedman and Schustack describe an example of such developmental changes,
stating that if an infant engaging in an active orientation towards others brings about the
fulfillment of primary drives, such as being fed or having their diaper changed, they will
develop a secondary drive to pursue similar interactions with others – perhaps leading
to an individual being more gregarious. Dollard and Miller’s belief in the importance of acquiring
drives led them to reconceive Sigmund Freud’s theory of psychosexual development. They found
themselves agreeing with the timing Freud used but believed that these periods
corresponded to the successful learning of certain secondary drives. Dollard and Miller
gave many examples of how secondary drives impact our habitual responses – and by extension,
our personalities, including anger, social conformity, imitativeness, or anxiety, to name
a few. In the case of anxiety, Dollard and Miller note that people who generalize the
the situation in which they experience the anxiety drive will experience anxiety far more than
they should.
These people are often anxious all the time, and anxiety becomes part of
their personality. This example shows how to drive theory can have ties with other theories
of personality – many of them look at the trait of neuroticism or emotional stability
in people, which is strongly linked to anxiety. == Personality tests ==
There are two major types of personality tests, projective and objective.
Projective tests assume personality is primarily unconscious and assess individuals by how
they respond to an ambiguous stimulus, such as an ink blot. Projective tests have been
in use for about 60 years and continue to be used today. Examples of such tests include
the Rorschach test and the Thematic Apperception Test.
The Rorschach Test involves showing an individual a series of note cards with ambiguous ink
blots on them. The individual being tested is asked to provide interpretations of the
blots on the cards by stating everything that the ink blot may resemble based on their
interpretation. The therapist then analyzes their responses.
Rules for scoring the test
have been covered in manuals that cover a wide variety of characteristics such as content,
originality of response, location of “perceived images” and several other factors. Using these
specific scoring methods, the therapist will then attempt to relate test responses to attributes
of the individual’s personality and unique characteristics. The idea is that unconscious
needs will come out in the person’s response, e.g. an aggressive person may see images of
destruction. The Thematic Apperception Test (also known
as the TAT) involves presenting individuals with vague pictures/scenes and asking them
to tell a story based on what they see. Common examples of these “scenes” include images
that may suggest family relationships or specific situations, such as a father and son or a
man and a woman in a bedroom. Responses are analyzed for common themes. Responses unique
to an individual are theoretically meant to indicate underlying thoughts, processes, and
potential conflicts present within the individual.
Responses are believed to be directly linked
to unconscious motives. There is very little empirical evidence available to support these
methods. Objective tests assume personality is consciously accessible and that it can
be measured by self-report questionnaires. Research on psychological assessment has generally
found objective tests to be more valid and reliable than projective tests. Critics have
pointed to the Forer effect to suggest some of these appear to be more accurate and discriminating
than they are. Issues with these tests include false reporting because there is no
way to tell if an individual is answering a question honestly or accurately.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (also known as the MBTI) is a self-reporting questionnaire
based on Carl Jung’s Type theory. == Inner experience ==
Psychology has traditionally defined personality through its behavioral patterns, and more
recently with neuroscientific studies of the brain. In recent years, some psychologists
have turned to the study of inner experiences for insight into personality as well as individuality.
Inner experiences are the thoughts and feelings of an immediate phenomenon. Another term used
to define inner experiences is qualia.
Being able to understand inner experiences assists
in understanding how humans behave, act, and respond. Defining personality using inner
experiences has been expanding because solely relying on behavioral principles
to explain one’s character may seem incomplete. Behavioral methods allow the subject to be
observed by an observer, whereas with inner experiences the subject is its observer. === Methods measuring inner experience ===
Descriptive experience sampling (DES), was developed by psychologist Russel Hurlburt. This is an
idiographic method that is used to help examine inner experiences. This method relies on an
introspective technique that allows an individual’s inner experiences and characteristics to be
described and measured. A beep notifies the subject to record their experience at that
exact moment and 24 hours later an interview is given based on all the experiences recorded.
DES has been used in subjects that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression.
It has also been crucial to study the inner experiences of those who have been diagnosed
with common psychiatric diseases. Articulated thoughts in simulated situations (ATSS):
ATSS is a paradigm that was created as an alternative to the TA (think-aloud) method.
This method assumes that people have continuous internal dialogues that can be naturally attended
to.
ATSS also assesses a person’s inner thoughts as they verbalize their cognitions.
In this procedure, subjects listen to a scenario via a video or audio player and are asked
to imagine that they are in that specific situation. Later, they are asked to articulate
their thoughts as they occur in reaction to the playing scenario. This method is useful
in studying emotional experience given that the scenarios used can influence specific
emotions. Most importantly, the method has contributed to the study of personality.
In
a study conducted by Rayburn and Davison (2002), subjects’ thoughts and empathy toward anti-gay
hate crimes were evaluated. The researchers found that participants showed more aggressive
intentions toward the offender in scenarios that mimicked hate crimes. Experimental method:
This method is an experimental paradigm used to study human experiences involved in the
studies of sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, and biological psychology.
The experimental psychologist usually deals with intact organisms although studies are
often conducted with organisms modified by surgery, radiation, drug treatment, or long-standing
deprivations of various kinds or with organisms that naturally present organic abnormalities
or emotional disorders. Economists and psychologists have developed a variety of experimental methodologies
to elicit and assess individual attitudes where each emotion differs for each individual.
The results are then gathered and quantified to conclude if specific experiences have any
common factors. This method is used to seek clarity of the experience and remove any biases
to help understand the meaning behind the experience to see if it can be generalized.
== See also == == References == == Further reading ==
Allport, G. W. (1937). Personality: A psychological interpretation. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Mischel, Walter (1999-01-01). An Introduction to Personality. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated.
ISBN 978-0-470-00552-1. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
Buss D.M.; Greiling H. (1999). “Adaptive Individual Differences”. Journal of Personality. 67 (2):
209–243. doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00053. Lombardo G.P.; Foschi R. (2003). “The Concept
of Personality between 19th Century France and 20th Century American Psychology”. History
of Psychology. 6 (2): 133–142. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.6.2.123. PMID 12817602.
Lombardo G.P.; Foschi R. (2002). “The European origins of “personality psychology”. European
Psychologist. 7 (2): 134–145. doi:10.1027/1016-9040.7.2.134. Engler, Barbara (2008-08-25). Personality
Theories: An Introduction. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-547-14834-2. Retrieved 30 April
2012. John, Oliver P.; Robins, Richard W.; Pervin,
Lawrence A. (2010-11-24). Handbook of Personality, Third Edition: Theory and Research. Guilford
Press. ISBN 978-1-60918-059-1. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
Hall, Calvin S., and Gardner Lindzey (1957). Theories of Personality. New York: J. Wiley
& Sons. xi, 571 p., ill. with diagrams. Hjelle, Larry A.; Ziegler, Daniel J. (1992-01-01).
Personality theories: basic assumptions, research, and applications. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-029079-2.
Retrieved 30 April 2012. Lombardo, Giovanni Pietro; Foschi, Renato
(2002). “The European Origins of “Personality Psychology”.
European Psychologist. 7 (2):
134–145. doi:10.1027/1016-9040.7.2.134. Lombardo, Giovanni Pietro; Foschi, Renato
(2003). “The concept of personality in 19th-century French and 20th-century American psychology”.
History of Psychology. 6 (2): 123–142. doi:10.1037/1093-4510.6.2.123. PMID 12817602.
Ryckman, Richard M. (2007-03-15). Theories of Personality. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-0-495-09908-6.
Retrieved 30 April 2012. == External links ==
Northwestern University-led collaboration between personality psychologists worldwide
to “attempt to bring information about current personality theory and research to the readers
of the World Wide Web” Psychology, Art of Human Life: Personality
Cambridge University-based myPersonality project offering to researchers access to a robust database
of millions of detailed psycho-demographic profiles
Scientific theoretical-methodological and applied psychological journal “Personality
Psychology” Personality Theories
Trait Emotional Intelligence: EI as personality Personality: Theory & Perspectives – Individual
Differences Personality Synopsis at the Virtual Psychology
Classroom Holland’s Types
Henry A. Murray and Clyde Kluckhohn, Personality in Nature, Society, and Culture (1953)
What is Personality Psychology?
