Personality Theories Overview-Recording B

Cognitive Social Theory

• Overview: Emphasizes learning, expectations, and beliefs in personality development.

• Key Components:

  • Encoding of Situations: Individuals assess situations based on personal relevance.

  • Personal Significance: The evaluation involves understanding personal meaning in outcomes.

  • Belief in Abilities: Self-efficacy belief influences whether behaviors are enacted in response to situations.

• Personal Constructs: Mental representations shaped by experiences are crucial.

Example Scenario: Being Standed for a Date

• Stimulus Event: Standing someone up for a date triggers emotional responses.

• Self-Esteem Impact: Realization diminishes self-esteem, motivating confrontational behavior.

• Behavioral Plan Formulation:

  • Expectancies & Competencies: Assessment of expected outcomes and ability to confront.

  • Execution of Plan: Real-life confrontations may differ from expected behavior, necessitating adjustments.

  • Behavioral Outcome Expectancies: Beliefs about whether behavior will lead to expected results influence actions.

  • Self Regulation: Involves setting goals and adjusting strategies based on feedback.

Trait Theory

• Definition of Traits: Emotional, cognitive, and behavioral tendencies indicating personality dimensions.

• Measurement Approaches:

  • Self-rated questionnaires or ratings from others (e.g., parents, teachers).

  • Common in personality tests (e.g., online quizzes).

• Key Researchers:

  • Gordon Allport: Identified ~18,000 personality traits.

  • Raymond Cattell: Reduced traits to 16 through factor analysis, emphasizing clusters of traits.

  • Hans Eysenck: Proposed three super traits:

  • Emotional Stability vs. Neuroticism: Anxiety vs. calmness.

  • Introversion vs. Extraversion: Social inhibition vs. sociability.

  • Psychoticism: Aggression and impulsivity.

The Big Five Personality Model

• Five Dimensions (OCEAN):

  • Openness to Experience: Interest in innovative ideas and artistic endeavors.

  • Conscientiousness: Competence, orderliness, and discipline.

  • Extraversion: Sociability and warmth.

  • Agreeableness: Trust and altruism.

  • Neuroticism: Anxiety and hostility.

• Acronym for Recall: OCEAN helps remember the five traits.

• Research Implications: High correlation between traits within factors but distinctiveness between factors.

Consistency in Personality

• Situation vs. Trait Debate: Mischel argued inconsistent behavior across situations, claiming situational factors often dictate actions.

• Person by Situation Interactions:

  • Individual traits influence behavior consistently when similar situations arise.

  • Example: Variability in aggressiveness depending on the context.

• Stability Across Time: Evidence shows personality consistency from childhood into adulthood can be predicted by early temperament.

Humanistic Theories

• Core Concepts:

  • Focus on human uniqueness and self-actualization.

  • Emphasis on overcoming interpersonal challenges to realize true potential.

• Carl Rogers' Perspective:

  • Differentiation between true self, false self, and ideal self.

  • Actualizing Tendency: Inner motivation to grow and achieve needs.

• Existentialism (Jean-Paul Sartre):

  • Emphasis on creating oneself; existence precedes essence.

  • Mortality Salience Findings: Awareness of death affects attitudes towards cultural values and charitable contributions.

Nature vs. Nurture in Personality

• Heritability Studies: Twin studies indicate a genetic influence on personality traits, estimating heritability at 15-50%.

• Cultural Influences: Cultural frameworks shape personality understanding and different emphasis on traits across cultures.

• Freud vs. Other Approaches:

  • Freud: Individual psychodynamics reflect cultural phenomena.

  • Interactionist Approach: Personality, economics, and culture influence one another.

Limitations of Theories

• Cognitive Social Theory:

  • Overemphasis on rational thought and conscious processes; limited understanding of emotional and unconscious traits.

• Trait Theory:

  • Depends on self-reports and lacks explanation for trait emergence.

• Humanistic Theory:

  • Limited empirical support and testable hypotheses; not comprehensive regarding personality development.