Personality Theories and Approaches

NEO-FREUDIANS: CARL JUNG

  • Analytical Psychology:

    • Focuses on balancing conscious and unconscious mind.

    • Each individual adopts a persona (a social mask).

    • Represents a compromise between true self and societal expectations.

    • Influenced by both collective unconscious and conscious experiences.

  • Differences from Freud’s View of the Unconscious:

    • Personal Unconscious: Contains experiences unique to the individual.

    • Collective Unconscious:

    • A universal mental reservoir with archetypes, accessible to all humans.

    • Archetypes:

      • Patterns found in the collective unconscious, cross-cultural in nature, representing common human experiences.

      • Example: The “hero” archetype shows up in various cultures.

NEO-FREUDIANS: CARL JUNG (CONTINUED)

  • Personality Dimensions:

    • Dimensions that describe personality include:

    • Extroversion vs. Introversion

    • Thinking vs. Feeling

    • Sensation vs. Intuition

    • Judging vs. Perceiving

    • Influenced the development of the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

    • Note: MBTI lacks scientific validation.

    • Characteristics of Extroversion vs. Introversion:

    • Introverts: Find energy in solitude, avoid attention, speak softly, and prefer written communication.

    • Extroverts: Get energized by social interactions, seek attention, speak loudly, and favor verbal communication.

BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE

  • Learning Approaches:

    • Concentrate on observable and measurable behaviors.

  • B.F. Skinner's Contributions:

    • Claims personality develops through reinforcements and consequences within the environment.

    • Personality can change with new experiences over a lifetime.

  • Albert Bandura's Contributions:

    • Introduced ideas of social/observational learning and vicarious learning.

    • Reciprocal Determinism:

    • The interaction between behavior, cognition, and environmental context, suggesting each influences the others.

BANDURA’S SOCIAL-COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

  • Focuses on the importance of cognition along with external influences.

  • Key Components:

    • Social-Cognitive Theory:

    • Highlights that both learning from the environment and cognitive processes contribute to personality differences.

    • Reciprocal Determinism:

    • Focuses on the interplay of cognitive processes, behavior, and situational factors.

    • Observational Learning:

    • Learning by observing others’ behaviors and their consequences, vital for understanding social norms.

    • Self-Efficacy:

    • Belief in one's own capabilities, shaped through experiences, influencing how one tackles challenges.

JULIAN ROTTER’S LOCUS OF CONTROL

  • Locus of Control:

    • Refers to beliefs regarding control over life events.

    • Found to affect learning and personality.

  • Types:

    • Internal Locus of Control:

    • Belief that outcomes result from personal efforts.

    • Associated with better academic performance, higher achievement levels, independence, and reduced depression.

    • External Locus of Control:

    • Belief that outcomes are determined by external factors like luck or other people.

PERSON VS SITUATION

  • Examines the interaction of personality and situational factors in behavior.

  • Walter Mischel's Criticism:

    • Contended that behavior varies significantly across different situations.

    • Introduced the Person-Situation Debate

    • Suggests that situations are more influential on behavior than inherent personality traits.

    • Example:

    • Milgram’s studies on conformity illustrate varying compliance based on situational dynamics.

  • Conclusion:

    • Behavior results from a combination of personality and situational contexts.

HUMANISTIC APPROACHES

  • Focuses on human flourishing and maximizing individual potential.

  • Abraham Maslow's Contributions:

    • Studied characteristics of creative and successful individuals.

    • Identified qualities include spontaneity, compassion, concern for others, self-acceptance, creativity, and openness.

    • Formulated the Hierarchy of Needs:

    • Self-Actualization is the pinnacle of needs, representing fulfillment and personal growth.

  • Carl Rogers' Contributions:

    • Emphasized the self-concept, which includes thoughts and feelings about oneself.

    • Differentiated between:

    • Ideal Self - the person one wishes to be.

    • Ought Self - the person one thinks they should be.

    • Real Self - the actual self.

    • Stresses that high congruence between ideal and real self leads to a stronger sense of self-worth and a healthier, productive life.

    • Incongruence can result in maladjustment.

BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES

  • Focuses on genetic heritability and physiological processes related to personality.

  • Identifying Traits:

    • Investigates brain regions and neurotransmitter levels associated with specific personality traits.

  • Heritable Traits:

    • Findings from the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart highlight the genetic contribution to personality.

    • Some traits found to be highly heritable include:

    • Leadership

    • Obedience to authority

    • Resistance to stress

    • Fearfulness

    • Approximately 50% of personality variance can be attributed to genetic factors.

TRAIT THEORISTS

  • Focus on enduring behavioral characteristics—traits.

  • Lexical Hypothesis:

    • Suggests that essential personality traits are embedded in language.

  • Gordon Allport's Contributions:

    • Identified numerous adjectives in the dictionary to describe people, categorized them into groups.

  • Raymond Cattell's Contributions:

    • Reduced Allport's original list to 16 dimensions that can be scored on a continuum.

    • Dimensions include:

      • Warmth

      • Intellect

      • Introversion

      • Tension

      • Emotional stability

      • Aggressiveness

      • Anxiety

      • Liveliness

      • Dutifulness

      • Independence

      • Social assertiveness

      • Sensitivity

      • Open-mindedness

      • Paranoia

      • Abstractness

      • Perfectionism

TRAIT THEORISTS (CONTINUED)

  • Hans and Sybil Eysenck's Contributions:

    • Investigated the genetic influence on traits and temperament.

    • Identified two major personality dimensions:

    • Extroversion/Introversion

    • Neuroticism/Stability

TRAIT THEORISTS: FIVE-FACTOR MODEL (FFM)

  • A widely accepted model in trait psychology.

  • Five Superordinate Traits:

    • Each trait has several facets that provide a deeper understanding of personality:

    1. Openness to Experience

    2. Conscientiousness

    3. Extraversion

    4. Agreeableness

    5. Neuroticism

  • Each individual has a unique score for each trait on a continuum.

FFM TRAITS & FACETS

  • Extraversion:

    • Associated with being outgoing and experiencing positive emotions.

    • Facets include:

    • Sociability

    • Assertiveness

    • Energy level

  • Agreeableness:

    • Encompasses caring for others and getting along with people.

    • Facets include:

    • Compassion

    • Respectfulness

    • Trust

  • Conscientiousness:

    • Refers to being organized, ambitious, and self-disciplined.

    • Facets include:

    • Organization

    • Productiveness

    • Responsibility

  • Neuroticism:

    • Reflects the tendency to experience negative emotions.

    • Facets include:

    • Anxiety

    • Depression

    • Emotional volatility

  • Openness to Experience:

    • Represents a willingness to try new activities and ideas.

    • Facets include:

    • Intellectual curiosity

    • Aesthetic sensitivity

    • Creative imagination

MORE TRAIT THEORIES

  • HEXACO Model:

    • Emphasizes six major personality traits with example aspects for each:

    • Honesty-Humility: Sincerity, modesty, faithfulness

    • Emotionality: Sentimentality, anxiety, sensitivity

    • Xtraversion: Sociability, talkativeness, boldness

    • Agreeableness: Patience, tolerance, gentleness

    • Conscientiousness: Organization, thoroughness, precision

    • Openness: Creativity, inquisitiveness, innovativeness

CULTURAL INFLUENCES

  • Culture:

    • Comprised of beliefs, customs, art, and traditions of a society.

  • Both universal traits and culturally specific traits contribute to personality variation.

  • Collectivism vs. Individualism:

    • Different societal paradigms that influence personality development.

  • Regional Personality Clusters in the U.S.:

    • Deep South/Midwest: Known for friendliness and conventionality

    • West Coast: Characterized by creativity, emotional stability, and relaxation

    • Northeast: Observed for higher stress and irritability

    • Regional variations influenced by selective migration patterns.

MEASURING PERSONALITY

  • Common Methods:

    • Self-report inventories (use of open-ended or multiple-choice/Likert-scale responses).

    • Require cognitive capacity and self-insight.

    • Subject to social desirability bias.

    • Suitable across various settings (clinical, legal, research, employment, etc.).

  • Other Measurement Options:

    • Projective Tests:

    • Aim to study unconscious processes through ambiguous stimuli.

    • Respondents project their feelings onto the images/stimuli.

    • Key Examples:

      • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): Involves telling stories about images.

      • Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB): Task involves completing sentences.

      • Rorschach Inkblot Test: Interpretation of symmetrical inkblots as a measure of personality.