PERSONALITY THEORIESPersonal Psychology 20

FOUR TYPES OF PERSONALITY THEORY

• Trait Theories - Attempt to learn what traits make up   personality and how they relate to actual   behavior

• Psychodynamic Theories -  - Focus on the inner workings of personality,  especially internal conflicts and   struggles

• Behavioristic Learning Theories - Behavioristic theories focus on external   environment and on the effects of   conditioning and learning.

• Humanistic Theories - Focus on private, subjective experience and  personal growth

TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

Understand individuals by breaking down behavior patterns into observable traits, (instead of observable behaviors).

Personalities are determined by a combination of traits.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS:1. Personality Traits are relatively stable, and therefore predictable.2. Personality Traits are consistent in diverse situations.3. Each person has a different set or degree of particular traits.

GORDON ALLPORT (1897-1967)

INFERRING TRAITS FROM BEHAVIOR

What people do is a great clue as to personality traits. If a person enjoys, biking, running and hiking, we can infer they are athletic (a trait), if they enjoy mountain climbing and moto-x, we might infer they are adventurous.

-We can infer traits by observing people in natural or experimental settings.

ALLPORT’S 3 CATEGORIES OF TRAITS

Cardinal Traits-Dominates personality

across time and situations.

-Most important component of personality ie. Ambition

or self-sacrifice.

-Very few people develop a cardinal trait – usually late

in life.

Central Traits-Five to Ten traits that are

stable across time and situation.

-Building blocks of personality ie.

Friendliness, meanness, happiness.

-General adjectives that would be used to describe

someone

-Basis for most personality theories

Secondary Traits-Characteristics that are only evident in certain

situations.

-Less obvious and consistent ie. Liking

icecream, disliking Rap music

-Of less importance to personality theorists.

RAYMOND CATTELL (1905-1998)

Cattell condensed thousands of traits to 16 primary traits. The 16 PF (personality factors) test is still in use today.

Divided personality traits into 2 categories:

• SURFACE TRAITS: Behavior we see people engaging in on a regular basis. Easily observed.

• SOURCE TRAITS: produce the behaviors we can see. Underlie surface behavior.

• Argued that only 2 factors were necessary to explain personality differences. Proposed a 2 factor model to encompass Cattell’s 16 factors.

• FACTOR 1:

Extraversion-Introversion

• FACTOR 2:

Neuroticism – Emotional Stability

HANS EYSENCK (1916-1997)

Costa & McRae’s : ‘Five Factor Theory’

More recent research suggests that 5 personality factors seem to be inherited or at least appear early on in most people.

Important to ignore + or – connotations with terminology.

Everyone possesses all 5 of these traits to a greater or lesser degree. (Continuum rather than have or not have).

EXTRAVERSION INTROVERSION

-Engaged with external world

-Enjoy being around others

-Energetic & enthusiastic

-Attention seekers

-Often positive

- Quiet & low-key

- Disengaged from external world – don’t seek out social involvement

- Prefer solitude

- Require less stimulation than extraverts

- Shyness sometimes mistaken for unfriendliness

AGREEABLENESS DISAGREEABLENESS

• Value getting along with others

• Considerate, friendly, generous, helpful

• Willing to compromise

• Optimistic view – believe that people are basically honest, decent & trustworthy

• Place self interest above getting along with others.

• Unconcerned with others’ well-being, unlikely to extend themselves for others.

• Skeptical of others’ motives – suspicious, unfriendly, uncooperative

While agreeableness is obviously advantageous for attaining & maintaining popularity, it is not useful in situations requiring tough or absolute decisions.

Disagreeable people can make excellent scientists, critics or soldiers.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS IMPULSIVITY

• Contemplation & careful planning.

• Persistent, reliable

• Prudence (wise & cautious) – Conscientious people are typically considered intelligent by others.

• Avoid trouble

• Often successful

• Can be perceived as stuffy or boring

• Perfectionists & workaholics

• Snap decisions, acting on impulse

• Fun, zany, exciting

• Unreliable, lacking ambition

• Distractibility = smaller, scattered and/or inconsistent accomplishments

• Responding to impulse – short term pleasure, but long term consequences

• Ie. Drug use - long term effects on health

NEUROTIC STABLE

• Tendency to experience negative feelings eg. Anxiety, anger, depression

• Emotionally reactive

• More intense responses, more likely to interpret situations as threatening or minor frustrations as hopeless difficult

• Irritability

• Problems in emotional regulation result in ability to think clearly, make decisions or cope.

• Less easily upset & emotionally reactive

• Calm & emotionally stable

• Free from persistent negative feelings

(* Does not necessarily mean an abundance of positive feelings – that falls under extraversion).

OPENESS(TO EXPERIENCE) CLOSE-MINDEDNESS

- Imaginative, creative

- Intellectual curiosity, appreciative of art, sensitive to beauty

- Ability to think in symbols or abstract terms

- More aware of feelings

- Individualistic & Non-conformist

- Intellectuals often score high on openness – but not directly related to intellect.

• Down-to-earth, conventional

• Narrow, common interests

• Prefer straightforward and obvious.

• Embrace familiarity – resistant to change

* Although openness is often presented as more mature –closed thinking can be more useful. Research shows closed thinkers thrive in areas such as police work, sales & service occupations

http://www.outofservice.com/bigfive/

http://personality-testing.info/tests/BIG5.php

http://psychcentral.com/personality-test/start.php

THE BIG 5 PERSONALITY TEST

BEHAVIORISM

• Behaviorists believe that the proper subject matter of psychology should be observable behavior

• Individuals differ in their learning experiences and as such acquire different behaviors and personalities

B.F. SKINNER

• Focused on precisely what caused a person to act a specific way

• Concerned with being able to predict and control behavior

• Became very popular as his approach was very action-oriented

CONTINGENCIES OF REINFORCEMENT

• The conditions that reinforce specific behaviors

• For example: if someone says they are “depressed” – would look at what could be “reinforcing” that behavior. Perhaps they are receiving more attention from their loved ones now and so the behavior would continue

• Subject is usually unaware of the “rewards” that are shaping their behavior

ALBERT BANDURA: SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

• Personality is acquired by direct reinforcement of behavior and observational learning or imitation

• Believed much of a young child’s individual behavior and personality is acquired by exposure to specific every day models.

• You can direct your behavior by choosing your model

HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY

• Individuals are free from instinctual pressures and have the ability to live by personal standards

• All humans strive for self-actualization – the realization of our potential as unique human beings

ABRAHAM MASLOW

• Developed the hierarchy of needs

• Through his research he found that people like Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt had all faced emotional difficulties but had adjusted in ways that allowed them to become highly productive. He described them as “self-actualized” individuals.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF-ACTUALIZED INDIVIDUALS

• Do not let their prejudices and “wishful thinking” alter their perception of reality

• Accept themselves, other people and their environments more readily – do not deny or try to overcome their shortcomings

• More problem-centered than self-centered

• Have a strong sense of identity with other human beings

• Know themselves well enough to maintain integrity in a variety of situations

• Focus on deep loving relationships with a few people

• Autonomous – value solitude

CARL ROGERS

• Counseled “clients” not “patients” - he believed the term “patient” implied illness and was therefore a negative term

• Many people suffer from a conflict between what they value in themselves and what other people value in them

• Believed there were two sides/parts to every person – the organism (the whole of a person including his/her body) and self (your image of who you are and what you value)

• Unconditional positive regard – accepting both the organism and the self leads to an individual being fully functional