1- TOP- Introduction to Personality Theory (copy)

Persona

Personality is Widely believed to come from the Latin word,

“-” referring to a theatrical mask worn by

Roman actors in Greek dramas to project a

role/false appearance

Personality

There is no universal/widely agreed upon definition

Proponent

Each theory/definition is influenced by its-

Personality

is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and

unique characteristics that give both consistency and

individuality to a person’s behavior

Traits

contribute to individual differences in behavior,

consistency of behavior over time, and stability of behavior

across situations

Traits

may be unique, common to some group, or shared by the

entire species, but their pattern is different for each individual

Characteristics

are unique qualities of an individual that

include such attributes as temperament, physique, and

intelligence

Theory- set

A single assumption can never fill all the requirements of an adequate theory

Theory- related

Isolated assumptions can neither generate meaningful hypotheses nor possess internal consistency

Theory- assumptions

components of a theory are not proven facts in the sense that their validity has been absolutely established

Theory- logical deductiove reasoning

is used by the researcher to formulate hypotheses.

Theory- testable

The hypotheses must be - in order to be useful

deductive reasoning

it is the job of an imaginative scientist to begin with the general theory and, through - , arrive at a particular hypothesis that can be tested.

Philosophy

theory is related to -, but it is a much narrower term

Philo

Greek meaning love

Sophia

Greek meaning wisdom

Philosophy

love of wisdom

Philosophers

are people who pursue wisdom through thinking and reasoning

Philosophers

are not scientists; they do not ordinarily conduct controlled studies in their pursuit of wisdom

Epistemology

nature of knowledge; Theory relates most closely to this branch of philosophy, because it is a tool used by scientists in their pursuit of knowledge.

Theory

do not deal with oughts and shoulds

Theory

set of principles about how one should live one’s life cannot be a -

Philosophy

Such principles involve values and are the proper concern of -

Theory

they are built on scientific evidence that has been obtained in a

relatively unbiased fashion

Philosophy

deals with what ought to be or what should be

Theory

deals with broad sets of if-then statements, but the goodness or badness of the outcomes of these statements is beyond the realm of -

Speculation

theories rely on - but they are much more than mere armchair -

Speculation

refers to making guesses or

predictions about something without

having definite evidence or proof

Science

is the branch of study

concerned with observation and

classification of data and with the

verification of general laws through

the testing of hypotheses

Theory

useful tools employed by scientists to give meaning and organization to observations

Theory; science

this provide fertile ground for producing testable hypotheses. Without some kind of - to hold observations together and to point to directions of possible research, - would be greatly handicapped.

Hypothesis

Although theory is a narrower concept than philosophy, it is a broader term than -

Hypothesis

is an educated guess or prediction specific enough for its validity to be tested through the use of the scientific method.

hypotheses

A theory is too general to lend itself to direct verification, but a single comprehensive theory is capable of generating thousands of -

deductive reasoning

Using - (going from the general to the specific), a scientific investigator can derive testable hypotheses from a useful theory and then test these hypotheses. The results of these tests-whether they support or contradict the hypotheses-feed back into the theory.

inductive reasoning

Using - (going from the specific to the general), the investigator then alters the theory to reflect these results. As the theory grows and changes, other hypotheses can be drawn from it, and when tested they in turn reshape the theory.

Taxonomy

classification of things according to their natural relationships.

Taxonomy

essential to the development of a science because without classification of data science could not grow.

Taxonomy

can evolve into theories when they begin to generate testable hypotheses and to explain research findings.

Robert Mccrae and Paul Costa

They began their research by classifying people into five

stable personality traits. Eventually, this research on the Big Five taxonomy led to more than a mere classification; it became a theory, capable of suggesting hypotheses and offering explanations for research results.

Alternate theories exist because the very nature of a theory allows the theorist to make speculations from a particular point of view.

If theories of personality are truly scientific, why de we have so many different ones?

1. Psychodynamic theories

2. Humanistic-existential theories (positive psychology)

3. Dispositional theories

4. Biological- evolutionary theories

5. Learning- (social) cognitive theories

major theoretical perspectives on what personality is and how it develops

Psychodynamic theories

focused on the importance of early

childhood experience and on relationships

with parents as guiding forces that shape

personality development

Psychodynamic theories

view sees the unconscious mind and

motives as more powerful than the

conscious one

Psychoanalysis

traditionally used dream interpretation to uncover the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and impulses as a main form of treatment of neurosis and mental illness.

Psychodynamic theories

share a concern with the dynamic forces that determine our behavior

Humanistic-existential theories (positive psychology)

primary assumption is that people strive toward meaning, growth, well-being, happiness, and psychological health.

Humanistic-existential theories (positive psychology)

Understanding these evolved positive

aspects of human behavior provides just as much insight into human nature as does

understanding the pathological aspects.

Existential theorists

assume that not only

are we driven by a search for meaning, but also that negative experiences such as

failure, awareness of death, death of a loved one, and anxiety, are part of the human

condition and can foster psychological growth

Dispositional theories

argue that the unique and long-term tendencies to behave

in particular ways are the essence of our personality.

Dispositional theories

The only theory that does not explain

personality

Traits (Dispositional theories)

These unique dispositions, such as extraversion or anxiety, are called

Biological-evolutionary theories

Behavior, thought, feelings, and personality are influenced by differences in basic genetic, epigenetic, and neurological systems between individuals.

Biological-evolutionary theories

reason

some people have different traits, dispositions, and ways of thinking stems from

differences in their genotype and central nervous system (brain structures and

neurochemistry).

Biological-evolutionary theories

genotype and central nervous system

• emphasizes that what we think, feel, and

do is always an interaction between

nature (biological) and nurture

(environment)

Learning-(social) cognitive theories

Focuses on observable evidences, and does

not study the unobservable concepts such

as drives, the unconscious mind, and

motives

Learning- (social) cognitive theories

All behaviors are learned through association and/or its consequences

Learning- (social) cognitve theories

argues that what

personality we have is shaped by how we

think and perceive the world

Freudian/Non-freudian and Behaviorism

Theories for predicting and control

Humanistic and existential

Theories for understanding

Traits/ dispositional theories

Theories for measuring and control

psychology of science

Because personality theories grow from theorists’ own personalities, a study of those personalities is appropriate. In recent years a subdiscipline of psychology called - has begun to look at personal traits of scientists

psychology of science

studies both science and the behavior of scientists; that is,

it investigates the impact of an individual scientist’s psychological processes and

personal characteristics on the development of her or his scientific theories and

research

psychology of science

examines

how scientists’ personalities, cognitive processes, developmental histories, and

social experience affect the kind of science they conduct and the theories they

create.

• Nearly all are highly creative

• Unusually romantic

• Most have outstanding literary skills

• Superior intelligence

• Sad childhood

• Lonely at least at one time or another

• Fervent belief that they were scientists and were making

observations and constructing theories within the

framework of science

common ground for theorists

• Generates research

• Falsifiable

• Organizes data

• Guides action

• Internally consistent

• Parsimonius

What makes a theory useful

Generates research

most important criterion of a useful theory is its ability to stimulate and guide further research

Descriptive research

concerned with the measurement, labeling, and

categorization of the units employed in theory building

Hypothesis testing

leads to an indirect verification of the usefulness of the

theory

Falsifiable

what makes a theory scientific, if it can be replicated

Falsifiable

A theory must also be evaluated on its

ability to be confirmed or disconfirmed

Falsifiable

a theory must be precise enough to

suggest research that may either support

or fail to support its major tenets

• accountable to experimental results

Organizes data

theory must be capable of integrating what

is currently known about human behavior and

personality development; it should organize

those research data that are compatible with

each other

Guides action

Ability to guide the practitioner over the rough course of day-to-

day problems. Without a useful theory, practitioners would

stumble in the darkness of trial and error techniques; with a sound

theoretical orientation, they can discern a suitable course of action

Internally consistent

concepts are consistently defined within the theory using operational

definitions

Parsimonious

simplicity; easy to

understand

• simple, straightforward

theories are more useful

than ones that bog down

under the weight of

complicated concepts

1. Determinism vs free choice

2. Pessimism vs optimism

3. Causality vs teleology

4. Conscious versus unconscious determinants of behavior

5. biological vs social influences on personality

6. Uniqueness vs similarities

7. Multifinality vs equifinality

dimensions as a framework for viewing each theorist’s concept of humanity

determinism vs free choice

more philosophical than scientific, the position theorists take

on this issue shapes their way of looking at people and colors their concept

of humanity.

Free choice

what we do with our lives is our own choice

Determinism

your past experiences brought you to do this action

Optimistic theories

people are capable of

change or are inherently/naturally born

good

Pessimistic theories

people are incapable

of change; people are naturally born bad;

ego guides your actions, so if your ego is

bad then your actions will be bad

Causality

holds that behavior is a function of past

experiences

Teleology

moves forward; future-oriented

Teleology

explanation of behavior in terms of

future goals or purposes

Causality vs teleology

Do people act as they do because of what has

happened to them in the past? OR do they act as

they do because they have certain expectations

of what will happen in the future?

Conscious vs unconscious determinants of behavior

Is much, most, or even all of our

behavior and experience

determined by unconscious

forces, i.e. forces of which we

are not aware? OR are people

ordinarily aware of what they

are doing and why they are

doing it?

biological versus social influences on personality

nature vs nurture; Which influences us more: our

biological makeup/heredity

(nature) or the social

relationships/environment we

have (nurture)?

uniqueness vs similarities

Should the study of personality

concentrate on those traits that make

people alike, or should it look at those

traits that make people different?

Uniqueness

same

experiences won’t mean that we will

be all the same in the end

Similarity

common traits (more on

trait theories)

Ethnocentrism

pertains to the era when and

where the theory was made

ethnocentrism

• the tendency to look at the world primarily from

the perspective of one's own culture. (misogyny,

sexism, classism and elitism)

Egocentrism

they believe that only their

theory was correct

Reliability

extent to which the test generate consistent results

Validity

degree to which the test measures what it is supposed to

measure

Construct validity

extent to which an instrument measures some

hypothetical construct

Convergent validity

extent that scores on that instrument correlate highly

(converge) with scores on a variety of valid measures of that same construct

Divergent validity

has low or insignificant correlations with other inventories

that do not measure that construct

Predictive validity

the extent that a test predicts some future behavior.