WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION

Personality

This word originated from the Latin word persona - theatrical masks worn by Roman actors in Greek Dramas

Personality

(Feist & Feist, 2018) It is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics.

Traits

It contributes to individual differences in behavior and referred to as the consistency of behavior over time.

Characteristics

There are unique qualities of a person which includes attributes such as temperament, physique, or intelligence.

Theory

It is a tool used to generate research and organized observations but neither truth not fact has a place in scientific theory.

Theory

It is a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypothesis.

Assumption

• A realistic expectation which is something that we believe is true.

• An act of faith which does not have empirical evidence to support.

• A thing that is accepted as true or certain even without proof.

Hypothesis

• It is a prediction and can be statistically tested.

• A prediction of relationships between two or more variables.

Determinism

People’s behavior determined by forces or motives which they have no control such as their past experiences

Freewill

It is about people’s ability to be what they wish to be.

Pessimism

People are doomed to live miserable, conflicted, and troubled lives.

Optimism

People change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, and fully functioning individual.

Causality

This holds that behavior is a function of past experience.

Teleology

It is an explanation of behavior in terms of future goals and purposes.

Conscious

Wherein people are ordinarily aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it.

Unconscious

Wherein forces impinge on people and drive them to act without awareness.

Biological

A personal characteristics or trait is a result of heredity.

Social Influences

People’s behavior are environmentally determined and shaped by social relationships.

Uniqueness

The study of personality should focus on a person’s individuality.

Similarities

The study of personality should focus on how people’s behaviors are similar with each other.

Psychodynamic

It is a perspective in Psychology that has the following assumptions:

• Early years of life most shape personality

• unconscious concepts are most important

• neurosis results from unhealthy moving toward, against, and away

• Sigmund Freud

• Alfred Adler

• Carl Jung

• Melanie Klein

• Karen Horney

• Erik Erikson

• Erich Fromm

Give the key figures of Psychodynamic Perspective.

Behavioral, Social Learning, and Social Cognitive

It is an perspective in psychology that has the following assumptions:

• the only explanation of behavior is that conditions create behavior

• learning occurs through association and consequences of behaviors

• learning also occurs through succeeding or failing or watching other people succeed or fail

• Albert Bandura

• B.F. Skinner

• Ivan Pavlov

Give the key figures of Behavioral, Social Learning, and Social Cognitive Perspective.

Humanistic and Existential

It is a perspective in psychology that has the following assumptions:

• people strive to live a meaningful and a happy life

• people are motivated by growth and psychological health

• personality is shaped by freedom of choice, response to anxiety and awareness of death

• Abraham Maslow

• Carl Rogers

• Rollo May

• Victor Frankl

Give the key figures of Humanistic and Existential perspective.

Dispositional (Trait)

It is a perspective in psychology that has the following assumptions:

• people are predisposed to behave in a unique and consistent ways; they have unique traits

• there are different numbers of dimensions in human personality

• Gordon Allport

• Hans Eysenck

• McCrae & Costa

Give the key figures of Dispositional (Trait) perspective.

Cognitive perspective

It is a perspective in psychology that has the following assumptions:

• personality develops as an interactions between internal and external choices

• the cognitive constructs we develop to perceive the world and others mold our personalities

• George Kelly

• Jean Piaget

Give the key figures of Cognitive perspective