Personality Theory

Trait Theories

• Gordon Allport – lexical approach• 4,500 traits

• Raymond Cattell – factor analysis• 16 personality “factors”

• Costa & McCrae – five-factor model• 5 traits

Openess

• Imaginative or practical

• Interested in variety or routine

• Independent or conforming

Conscientiousness

•Organized or disorganized

•Careful or careless

•Disciplined or impulsive

Extraversion

•Sociable or retiring

•Fun-loving or somber

•Affectionate or reserved

Agreeableness

•Softhearted or ruthless

•Trusting or suspicious

• Helpful or uncooperative

Neuroticism

•Calm or anxious

•Secure or insecure

•Self-satisfied or self-pitying

“Big 5” Factors

Personality TheoryPsychodynamic Perspective

Sigmund Freud

Carl Jung

Alfred Adler

Karen Horney

Personality TheoryHumanistic Perspective

Conditions of Worth

Personality TheoryBehaviorist Perspective

• An individuals personality is a collection of response tendencies

• Consistent patterns of behavior acquired through experience

• Personality is not permanent

• May change based on new experiences

• How are response tendencies formed??

• Operant conditioning processes

Personality TheorySocial-Cognitive Approach

Reciprocal Determinism

Albert BanduraAspects of social learning:• Attention• Retention• Motor

reproduction• Reinforcement

Julian Rotter

Walter Mischel

• CAPS – cognitive affective processing systems• Thoughts and

emotions about oneself and the world determine behavior

Personality and the Brain

• Reticular Activation System

• located in brain stem – regulates alertness

• “Optimum level of arousal”

• Extraverts under stimulated

• Introverts over stimulated

• Three main traits• Extroversion, Neuroticism, Psychoticism

Hans Eysenck

• Behavioral Activation System

• Seek positive consequences & rewards

• Positive emotion

• High extraversion

• Behavioral Inhibition System

• Avoid negative consequences & punishment

• Negative emotion

• High neuroticism

Jeffrey Gray: Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory