Theories Personality

& Assessment

Modified by
Elizabeth T Santosa, M.Psi, psi.
+
Definition of Personality?
Personality refers to the relatively enduring
characteristics that differentiate one person
from another and that lead people to act in a
consistent and predictable manner, both in
different situations and over extended periods
of time.
Personality is defined as: the enduring or
lasting patterns of behavior and thought (across
time and situation).
+ Personality

Four Major Perspectives on Personality

Psychoanalytic - unconscious motivations

Trait - specific dimensions of personality
Humanistic - inner capacity for growth
Social-Cognitive - influence of environment
+
Sigmund Freud

University of Vienna 1873

Voracious Reader
Medical School Graduate

Specialized in Nervous
Disorders : Some patients disorders
had no physical cause.

(1856-1939)
+ Sigmund Freud

What is the structure and development of

personality, according to Sigmund Freud and his
successors (i.e.,psychoanalysts)?

According to psychoanalysts, much of behavior is

caused by parts of personality which are found in
the unconscious and of which we are unaware.

Freuds 3 levels of awareness/consciousness:

the conscious mind;
the preconscious mind; and
the unconscious mind.
+ Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious
the mind is like an iceberg - mostly hidden

Conscious Awareness Unconscious

small part above surface below the surface
(Preconscious) (thoughts, feelings,
wishes, memories)

Repression
Banishing unacceptable
thoughts and passions to
unconscious:
Dreams and Slips
+ Psychoanalysis:
Freuds Theory of Personality
Three levels of consciousness:

Conscious mind:
things we are
focusing on.
Preconscious mind:
things are are not
currently aware of
but which we could
focus on.
Unconscious mind:
that which we are
unaware of.
+ Psychoanalysis:
Freuds Theory of Personality

Freuds theory suggest that personality is composed of

the id, the ego, and the superego.

id:the unorganized, inborn part of personality whose

purpose is to immediately reduce tensions relating to
hunger, sex, aggression, and other primitive impulses.

ego: restrains instinctual energy in order to maintain the

safety of the individual and to help the person to be a
member of society.

superego: the rights and wrongs of society and consists

of the conscience and the ego-ideal.
+Freud and Personality Structure
Id - energy constantly striving to satisfy basic drives
Pleasure Principle

Ego - seeks to gratify the Id in realistic ways

Reality Principle
Super
Ego
Ego
Super Ego
- voice of conscience
that focuses on how
Id we ought to behave
+ Freuds Theory:
the ID
The id uses the most primitive of thinking process.
Basic biological urges (e.g., hunger, self-protection).
The id operates on the Pleasure Principle.
Seeks pleasure and avoids pain:I want what I want NOW!

The id operates completely at an unconscious level.

No direct contact with reality.
The id has 2 major instincts:
Eros: life instinct = motivates people to focus on pleasure-
seeking tendencies (e.g., sexual urges).
Thanatos: death instinct = motivates people to use aggressive
urges to destroy.

The energy for the ids instincts comes from the libido, (the
energy storehouse).
+ Freuds Theory:
the Ego

Theego consists of a conscious faculty for

perceiving and dealing intelligently with reality.
The ego acts as a mediator between the id and
the superego.
The ego is partly conscious.
Deals with the demands of reality.
Makes rational decisions.
+
Freuds Theory:
the Ego
The ego serves the ID:

The rational part of personality that maintains

contact with reality.
Governed by Reality Principle
What consequences are there to my behavior?

The ego is the Executive of the personality

The ego controls higher mental processes.
Reasoning, problem solving.
The ego uses these higher mental processes to help satisfy the urges of the ID.
+
Freuds Theory:
the Superego

Superego: the moral part of personality.

Internalized rules of parents and society.

Superego consists of two parts:

Conscience: notions of right/wrong.
Ego Ideal: how we ideally like to be.

Superego: constrains us from gratifying every impulse (e.g.,

murder) because they are immoral, and not because we might
get caught.

Superego: partly conscious, partly unconscious.

+
Freud: superego, id, and ego

According to Freud, an individuals feelings,

thoughts, and behaviors are the result of the
interaction of the id, the superego, and the
ego.
+
Freuds Theory of Personality:
The id, the ego, and the superego are continually in
conflict with one another.

This conflict generates anxiety.

If the ego did not effectively handle the resulting

anxiety, people would be so overwhelmed with
anxiety that they would not be able to carry on with
the tasks of everyday living.

The ego tries to control anxiety (i.e., to reduce

anxiety) through the use of ego defense
mechanisms.
+ Ego Defense Mechanisms:
Defense Mechanisms
Ego Id
When the inner war
gets out of hand, the
result is Anxiety

Ego protects itself via

Defense Mechanisms
Super
Ego
Defense Mechanisms reduce/redirect
anxiety by distorting reality
+ Ego Defense Mechanisms

Definition: An defense mechanism is a psychology

tendency that the ego uses to help prevent people from
becoming overwhelmed by any conflict (and resulting
anxiety) among the id, the ego, and the superego.

Defense mechanisms operate at an unconscious

level:
We are not aware of them during the time that we are
actually using them.
However, we may later become aware of their
previous operation and use.
+ Freuds Theory:
Defense Mechanisms

Repression: pushing unacceptable and anxiety-

producing thoughts into the unconscious; involves
intentional forgetting but not consciously done; repressed
material can be memories or unacceptable impulses.
A rape victim cannot recall the details of the attack.

Regression: acting in ways characteristic of earlier life

stages/earlier stage of personality.
A young adult, anxious on a trip to his parents/ home,
sits in the corner reading comic books, as he often did
in grade school.
+ Freuds Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
Reaction formation: replacing an anxiety-producing
feeling with its exact opposite, typically going
overboard; repressed thoughts appear as mirror
opposites.
A man who is anxious about his interest in gay men
begins dating women several times a week.

Rationalization: creating false but believable excuses

to justify inappropriate behavior; real motive for
behavior is not accepted by ego.
A student cheats on an exam, explaining that cheating
is legitimate on an unfair examination.
+ Freuds Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
Denial: claiming and believing that something which is
actually true is false.
A person disbelieves that she is age, asserting that
I am not getting older.

Displacement: redirecting emotional feelings (e.g.,

anger) to a substitute target; involves directing
unacceptable impulses onto a less threatening
object/person.
A husband, angry at the way his boss treated him,
screams at his children.
Instead of telling your professor what you really think
of her, you tailgate and harass a slow driver on your
way home from school.
 + Freuds Theory:
Defense Mechanisms
Projection: attributing ones own unacceptable feelings
or beliefs to others; perceiving the external world in
terms of ones own personal conflicts.
An employee at a store, tempted to steal some
merchandise, suspects that other employees are
stealing.

Sublimation: substitute socially acceptable behavior for

unacceptable impulses.
Playing video games instead of getting in a fight.
+ Freud:
Stages of Personality Development

Freud s psychoanalytic theory of personality

suggests that personality develops through a series
of stages, each of which is associated with a major
biological function.

More specifically, Freud theorized that as people

age, they pass through several systematic stages of
psychosexual development in their personality.
+ Psychosexual Stages of Development
are Source of Unconscious Conflicts.
Thestages of personality development involve critical
events that occur in every childs life.

Ateach level, there is a conflict between pleasure and

reality.
The resolution of this conflict determines personality.

At any stage, a fixation can occur:

If needs are either under-gratified or over-gratified, we
become fixated at a particular stage.

Each stage also involves an erogenous zone.

Parts of the body that involve sexual pleasure.
 Freud and Personality Development
personality
personality forms
forms during
during the
the first
first few
few years
years of
of life,
life,
rooted
rooted in
in unresolved
unresolved conflicts
conflicts of of early
early childhood
childhood

Psychosexual Stages
Oral (0-18 mos) - centered on the mouth
Anal (18-36 mos) - focus on bowel/bladder elim.
Phallic (3-6 yrs) - focus on genitals/Oedipus Complex
(Identification & Gender Identity)
Latency (6-puberty) - sexuality is dormant
Genital (puberty on) - sexual feelings toward others

Strong conflict can fixate an individual at Stages 1,2 or 3

+ Freuds Stages of Personality
Development:
Oralstage: the oral state is the first period, occurring
during the first year of life.

Analstage: next comes the anal stage, lasting from

approximately age 1 to age 3.

Phallic
stage: the phallic stages follows, with interest
focusing on the genitals.

Latency period: then follows the latency period lasting

until puberty.

Genitalstage: after puberty, people move into the

genital stage, a period of mature sexuality.
+
(1) Oral stage of development:
Time period: Birth to 18 months:
Erogenous zone is mouth.
Gratification through sucking and swallowing.

Oral fixation has two possible outcomes.

Oral receptive personality:
Preoccupied with eating/drinking.
Reduce tension through oral activity.
eating, drinking, smoking, biting nails
Passive and needy; sensitive to rejection.
Oral aggressive personality:
Hostile and verbally abusive to others.
+
(2) Anal stage of development:
Time period: 1 1/2 to 3 years of age.

Erogenous zone is the anus.

Conflict surrounds toilet training.

Anal fixation has two possible outcomes.

Anal retentive personality.
Stingy, compulsive orderliness, stubborn,
perfectionistic.
Anal expulsive personality.
Lack of self control, messy, careless.
+
(3) Phallic stage of development:
Time period: 3 to 6 years.

Erogenous zone is the genitals: self-stimulation of the

genitals produces pleasure.

At age 5 or 6, near the end of the phallic stage, children

experience the Oedipal conflict (boys)/the Electra conflict
(girls)--a process through which they learn to identify with
the same gender parent by acting as much like that parent
as possible.

Oedipus complex (boys) vs Electra complex (girls)

Child is sexually attracted to the other sex parent and
wishes to replace the same sex parent.
+
(3) Phallic stage of development:
Oedipus complex (little boys):

Castration anxiety:
Son believes father knows about his desire for mom.
Fears dad will castrate him.
Represses his desire and defensively identifies with
dad.
+
(3) Phallic stage (continued):
Electra complex (little girls):

Penis envy:
Daughter is initially attached to mom.
Shift of attachment occurs when she realizes she lacks a
penis.
She desires dad whom she sees as a means to obtain a
penis substitute (a child).
Represses her desire for dad.
incorporates the values of her mother
accepts her inherent inferiority in society
+
(4) Latency Period:

During the latency period, little girls and little boys try
to socialize only with members of their own gender.

Freudposits that children do this so as to help

minimize the awareness of sexuality.

Thus,they continue the process of sexual repression

that began in the previous stage (for those who
successfully made it through the Oedipal
Complex/Electra Complex).
+
(5) Genital Stage:

When adolescence begin puberty, they enter the 5th stage of

psychosexual development.

They develop secondary sexual characteristics (e.g., pubic

hair).

The onset of the physical sexual characteristics re-

awakens people sexual urges, and thus they are no longer
able to successfully repress their sexual desires, impulses,
and urges.

They begin searching for a marital mate, with whom they can
share sex and intimacy.
+
Summary of Freud (on personality):

Freuds psychoanalytic theory has provoked a number of

criticisms.
a lack of supportive scientific data;
the theorys inadequacy in making predictions; and
its limitations owing to the restricted population on which
it is based.

Still, the theory remains popular.

For instance, the neo-Freudian psychoanalytic theorists
built upon Freuds work, although they placed greater
emphasis on the role of the ego and paid greater
attention to social factors in determining behavior.
+ Psychoanalysis:
Freud and Personality
Evaluating the Psychoanalytic
Perspective
Were Freuds theories Current research
the best of his time contradicts
or were they simply many of Freuds
incorrect? specific ideas

Development does not

stop in childhood

Slips of the tongue are Dreams may not be

likely competing unconscious
nodes in memory network drives and wishes
+ Summary:
Freud and Personality

Freuds Ideas as Scientific Theory

Theories must explain observations
and offer testable hypotheses

Few Objective Observations Few Hypotheses

(Freuds theories based on his recollections &

interpretations of patients free associations,
dreams & slips o the tongue)

Does Not PREDICT Behavior or Traits

+ 4 Types of Personality Theories:
(1). Psychodynamic approaches
to personality.

(2). Humanistic approaches

to personality.

(3). Trait approaches to personality.

(4). Social Cognitive approaches

to personality.
+(1) Psychodynamic Personality
Theories:
Source of information about personality:
Obtained from expert analyst from people in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
unconscious internal conflict associated with childhood
experiences.
Also, unconscious conflicts between pleasure-seeking
impulses and social restraints.
Outlook on humans:
negative.
Comprehensiveness of theory:
very comprehensive.
+ Psychodynamic (Psychoanalytic)
Theories:
Many are called Neo-Freudians. All place less emphasis on sex.

Carl
Jung:
Personal vs. Collective Unconscious.
Balance between introversion and extroversion.

Alfred Adler:
Strivingfor superiority = motivation to master
environment.
Notion of an Inferiority Complex.

KarenHorney:
Personality is Cultural rather than biological.
+(2) Humanistic Personality
Theories:
Source of information about personality:
obtained from self-reports from the general
population and people in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
self concepts,
self-actualizing tendencies.
conscious feelings about oneself (based on ones
previous experiences).
Outlook on humans:
positive.
Comprehensiveness of theory:
fairly comprehensive.
 The Humanistic Perspective

Maslows Rogers
Self-Actualizing Person-Centered
Person Perspective

Healthy rather than Sick

Individual as greater than the sum of test scores
+ Humanistic Personality Theories:
Maslow and Rogers
Humanistic approach (Third Force):
Rejected Freuds pessimistic view of personality.
Rejected Behaviorists mechanistic view.
More optimistic/positive about human nature.
Humans are free and basically good.
Humans are inner-directed.
Everyone has the potential for healthy growth.
Health growth involves Self actualization:
Be all you can be.
Given the right environmental conditions,
we can reach our full potential.
Rogers Person-Centered Perspective
People are basically good
with actualizing tendencies.

Given the right environmental

conditions, we will develop
to our full potentials

Genuineness, Acceptance, Empathy

Self Concept:
Concept central feature
of personality (+ or -)
+
Humanistic Personality Theories:
Carl Rogers
Self-concept: our image or perception of ourselves
(Real Self versus Ideal Self).
We have a need for positive regard/approval from others.
Conditions of worth or conditional positive regard.
The conditions under which other people will approve of
us.
We change our behavior to obtain approval.
What we need is: Unconditional positive regard.

Anxiety signifies that we are not being true to our ideal self.
Well-adjusted persons: self-concept & experience.
Poorly adjusted person: self-concept & experience.
+ Maslows Hierarchy of human motives:
one must satisfy lower needs before one
satisfies higher needs.
 Humanistic Personality Theories:
+
Abraham Maslow
Self-actualization
is the culmination of a lifetime of inner-
directed growth and improvement:
Challenging ourselves to the fullest.
Can you identify a self-actualized individual?
Characteristics of the self-actualized person:
Creative and open to new experiences.
Committed to a cause or a higher goal.
Trusting and caring of others, yet not dependent.
Have the courage to act on their convictions.
(3)
+ Trait Personality Theories:

Source of information about personality:

obtained from observation of behavior and questionnaire
responses from the general population as well as from
people in therapy.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
stable internal characteristics;
some emphasize genetic basis.
Outlook on humans:
neutral - neither positive nor negative.
Comprehensiveness of theory:
not very comprehensive.
(3)
+ Trait Personality Theories (cont):

Traitapproaches have tried to identify the most basic

and relatively enduring dimensions along which people
differ from one another--dimensions known as traits.
How many trait dimensions are there?
How can we measure these trait dimensions?
Where do these trait dimensions originate?
 (3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
+
Allport

Allport: Most important personality traits are those that

reflect our values.

Allport suggested that there are 3 kinds of traits:

cardinal: a single personality trait that directs most of a
persons activities (e.g., greed, lust, kindness).
central: a set of major characteristics that make up the
core of a persons personality.
secondary: less important personality traits that do not
affect behavior as much as central and cardinal traits
do.
 (3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Eysenck
Hans Eysenck:
found two (2) major
trait dimensions:
introversion
versus
extroversion
(quiet versus
sociable).
Neuroticism
versus
emotional stability
(moody versus calm).
+ (3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):
Cattells Theory of Personality:
Cattells Trait Theory:
Distinguished 3 types of traits:
Dynamic.
Ability.
Temperament.

Also:
Surface Traits: Less important to personality.
Source Traits: More important basic underlying
traits.
Cattell identified 16 basic traits.
He developed the 16PF to measure these traits.
+(3) Trait Personality Theories (cont):

Recently personality theorists have begun to converge on the

view that there are 5 basic personality dimensions:
1: emotional stability versus neuroticism:
calm, secure, self-satisfied VS anxious, insecure, self-
pitying.
2: extraversion versus introversion:
sociable, fun-loving, affectionate VS retiring, sober, reserved.
3: openness versus close-mindedness:
imaginative, independent VS practical, conforming.
4: agreeableness versus disagreeableness:
kind, trusting, helpful VS ruthless, suspicious, uncooperative.
5: conscientiousness versus undependable:
organized, careful, disciplined VS disorganized, careless,
+
Five Factor Model of Traits
+
Five Factor Model of Traits
The Big Five
Calm/Anxious
Emotional Stability
Secure/Insecure

Sociable/Retiring
Extraversion
Fun Loving/Sober

Imaginative/Practical
Openness
Independent/Conforming
Soft-Hearted/Ruthless
Agreeableness
Trusting/Suspicious
Organized/Disorganized
Conscientiousness
Careful/Careless
+
Trait Theories of Personality:
Summary
Traits:
Characteristicsor typical ways of acting:
Consistency:
across situations, over time.
Distinctiveness:
each personality is unique.

Explain why individuals behave in certain ways.

How many traits are there, and what are they?

Not easy to answer; little consensus.
+ Assessing Personality Traits
How can we assess traits?
(aim to simplify a persons behavior patterns)

Personality Inventories
MMPI:
most widely used personality inventory.
assess psychological disorders
(not normal traits).
empirically derived - test items selected based
upon how well they discriminate between
groups of traits.
+
Do traits exist?
The Trait-Situation Debate
Walter Mischel (1968) argued that:
Behavior is not consistent across time or situation.
If no consistency, not much point in arguing for personality.
Thus, personality is an illusion.

Situationism:
Mischel believed that behavior is influenced more by the situation than
any internal trait.

Person x situation interactionism:

Both (a) internal traits and (b) the situation we are in are important
determinants of behavior.
 +
(4) Social-Cognitive (Learning)
Approaches to
Source of information about personality:
Personality
Obtained Theories:
from experiments, observations of behavior,
and questionnaire responses from the general
population.
Cause of behavior, thoughts, and feelings:
reciprocalinfluence between people (cognitions and
behavior) and their environmental situations, colored by
their perceptions of control.
Outlook on humans:
neutral: neither positive nor negative.
Comprehensiveness of theory:
not very comprehensive.
 Social-Cognitive-Learning
+
Perspective

Behavior learned through

conditioning and observation

What we think about our situation

affects our behavior

Interaction of
Environment and Intellect
+ Social-Cognitive Personality
Theories:
Social Learning Theory
Bandura: Theoretical origins in behaviorism.

Emphasizes the role of learning in personality.

Classical Conditioning.
Operant Conditioning .
Modeling.

Instead of studying whats going on inside the person (traits),

study what is going on outside the person (environment).

How does the environment shape personality?

+ Social-Cognitive Personality
Theories:
Social Learning Theory
Bandura also emphasized the importance of cognition in
personality development.

People develop a sense of self-efficacy:

Our beliefs about our ability to achieve goals.
Individuals with higher self-efficacy:
accept greater challenges.
try harder to meet challenges.

Bandura also discusses the notion of Reciprocal

Determinism:
The individual and the environment continually
influence one another.
+ Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Reciprocal Determination
Personal/
Cognitive
Factors

Environment
Behavior
Factors

Internal World + External World = Us

+ Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Reciprocal Determination
+ Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Personal Control
Internal Locus of Control:
You pretty much control your own destiny

External Locus of Control:

Luck, fate and/or powerful others control your destiny.

Methods of Study:
Correlate feelings of control with behavior.
Experiment by raising/lowering peoples sense of
control and noting the consequences and effects.
+ Social-Cognitive Personality Theories:
Outcomes of Personal Control

Learned Helplessness:
Uncontrollable Perceived Generalized
bad events lack of control helpless behavior

Important Issues:
Nursing Homes
Prisons
Colleges
+
Comparison of Personality
Theories
+
Personality Assessment
Personality assessment involves the techniques for
systematically gathering information about a person in
order to understand and predict behavior.

Goal of personality assessment: to obtain reliable,

valid measures of individual differences that will
permit the accurate prediction of behavior.
+
How do we measure
Personality?
(1)
Interview:
Ask the person about themselves.
Obtain information that reveals personality.

(2)Behavioral Observation:
Watch the individuals behavior in an actual or simulated
situation.

PersonalityTests:
(3) Objective tests (questionnaire tests).
(4) Projective tests.
+
How do we measure personality?
(2) Behavioral assessment

Behavioral assessment is based on the principles of

learning theory.

Behavioral assessment employs direct measurement

of behavior to determine the characteristics related to
personality.
+ How do we measure personality?
(3) Objective Test Assessment

Objective personality tests (self-report

questionnaires) present the test taker with a number
of specific items to which she is asked to respond,
either on paper or on a computer screen.

Self-report
measures ask people about a sample
range of their behaviors.

These reports are used to infer the presence of

particular personality characteristics.
+
How do we measure personality?
(3) Objective Test Assessment

Examples of objective personality measures:

the MMPI (the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory).
the 16 PF (the Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire).
the NEO-PI (the NEO Personality Inventory).

The most commonly used self-report measure is the

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-
2), designed to differentiate people with specific
sorts of psychological difficulties from normal
individuals.
+
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI-2)
Mostwidely used personality instrument.
Used in clinical and employment settings.
MMPI-2 Has several different scales (multiphasic).

MMPI sample items:

I usually feel that life is worthwhile and interesting
(FALSE) = Depression.
I seem to hear things that other people cant hear
(TRUE) = Schizophrenia.

Measures aspects of personality that, if extreme, suggest

a problem:
Extreme suspiciousness may indicate paranoia.
+ How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment
A projective personality test is one in which the subject
is given an ambiguous stimulus and asked to respond
spontaneously.
pictures or inkblots.
No clear answer.

The ambiguous stimulus allows test takers to project

their own needs, dreams, feelings into their response.

The observers responses to the stimulus are then

used to infer information about the observers
personality.
+
How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment (continued)

All projective tests are based on the projective hypothesis

which states that the individual's response to an
ambiguous stimulus represents a projection of his or her
own inner, often unconscious, feelings and needs.

Indirect method of personality assessment:

Based on psychoanalytic assumptions:

Personality is mostly unconscious.
People are unaware of contents of unconscious.
+
How do we measure personality?
(4) Projective Test Assessment (continued):

The 2 most frequently used projective tests are:

the Rorschach: reactions to inkblots are employed to
classify personality types.
the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): stories about
ambiguous pictures are used to draw inferences about
the storytellers personality.
+
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Most popular projective technique.

Respond to inkblot: What could this be?

+

THE END