The Study of the Person

What is personality?

relatively enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that represent a person’s readiness to respond to situations in given ways

What are some of the major paradigms?

trait, biological, psychoanalytic, phenomenological, and learning & cognitive

What is a trait?

focuses on differences across persons in order to characterize persons

What is biological paradigms?

considers how who we are is biologically influenced

What is psychoanalytic paradigms?

assumes unconscious processes dictate personality more than we can readily know

What does phenomenological mean?

conscious

What is humanistic phenomenological?

emphasizes what it is to be human; personality at the species level

What is cross-cultural phenomenological?

but which many differ across cultural groups

What is learning & cognitive paradigms?

how who we are is a product of past learning and cognitive processes

What is funders first law?

great strengths are usually great weaknesses, and surprisingly often the opposite is true as well