Self and Personality – Quick-Review Notes

Concept of Self

  • Totality of conscious experiences, thoughts, feelings about oneself
  • Personal identity: unique attributes (name, traits, abilities, beliefs)
  • Social identity: group memberships (religion, caste, region, etc.)
  • Dual perspective: self-as-subject (actor) vs. self-as-object (observed)
  • Key kinds
    • Biological/personal self (focus on individual needs, autonomy)
    • Social/relational self (focus on affiliation, family, cooperation)

Cognitive & Behavioural Aspects

  • Self-concept: global and domain-specific evaluations of own abilities
  • Self-esteem: value judgement of worth; stable by ages 66–77 in academics, social, physical/athletic, appearance
  • Self-efficacy (Bandura): belief in capacity to achieve; high efficacy → initiative, low fear
  • Self-regulation: organise & monitor behaviour; includes self-observation, self-instruction, self-reinforcement; enables delay of gratification

Culture & Self

  • Western view: clear, fixed boundary between self & group (individualistic)
  • Indian view: flexible, shifting boundary; collectivistic harmony with group & cosmos

Concept of Personality

  • Relatively stable psychophysical traits that make behaviour consistent & unique
  • Core features: physical + psychological, distinctive, persistent yet adaptable

Major Approaches

  • Type
    • Ancient: Hippocrates’ 44 humours; Indian tridosha & triguna
    • Sheldon: Endomorph, Mesomorph, Ectomorph
    • Jung: Introvert vs. Extravert
    • Friedman & Rosenman: Type-A / Type-B (extended to C, D)
  • Trait
    • Allport: cardinal, central, secondary traits
    • Cattell: 1616 source traits (16PF)
    • Eysenck: 22 main dimensions (Neuroticism–Stability, Extraversion–Introversion) + Psychoticism
    • Five-Factor Model: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism
  • Psychodynamic (Freud)
    • Levels: conscious, preconscious, unconscious
    • Structure: id (pleasure), ego (reality), superego (morality)
    • Defence mechanisms: repression, projection, denial, reaction formation, rationalisation
    • Psychosexual stages: Oral, Anal, Phallic (Oedipus/Electra), Latency, Genital
  • Post-Freudian: Jung (collective unconscious), Adler (inferiority & lifestyle), Horney (basic anxiety), Fromm (social orientation), Erikson (lifespan, identity)
  • Behavioural: personality = learned S-R patterns; conditioning & observational learning
  • Cultural: personality as adaptation to ecological & economic contexts (e.g., hunting vs. agriculture)
  • Humanistic: innate drive to self-actualise
    • Rogers: real self vs. ideal self; congruence → fully functioning person
    • Maslow: hierarchy of needs culminating in self-actualisation

Healthy Personality (Humanistic View)

  • Self-awareness, acceptance, responsibility
  • Present-centred living
  • Openness to experience, continual growth

Assessment Techniques

  • Self-report inventories
    • MMPI / JMPI (clinical 1010 scales, 567567 items)
    • Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (E, N, P)
    • 1616 PF (Cattell)
    • Limitations: social desirability, acquiescence
  • Projective methods
    • Rorschach Inkblot (1010 blots; performance + inquiry)
    • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (approx. 2020 cards per subject)
    • Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study, Sentence Completion, Draw-a-Person
  • Behavioural analysis
    • Interviews (structured/unstructured)
    • Natural/controlled observation
    • Behavioural ratings (watch for halo, middle/extreme biases)
    • Peer nomination
    • Situational stress/role-play tests

Key Quick Facts

  • Delay of gratification essential for adult self-control
  • High self-esteem ↔ better performance & peer acceptance; low ↔ anxiety/depression
  • Type-A linked to hypertension & CHD risk
  • Defence mechanisms protect ego but may distort reality
  • Assessment goal: predict behaviour with minimum error, maximum accuracy