Introduction to Personality Psychology

Personality

  • Definition of Personality

    • Distinguishing pattern of psychological characteristics (thinking, feeling, behaving) that differentiate us from others.

    • Leads to relatively consistent behavior across situations and over time:

    • Across time: behavior remains stable throughout the life course.

    • Across situation: behaviors exhibit consistent tendencies under various circumstances.

    • Like intelligence, personality is an individual characteristic made of many traits.

Individual Differences in Personality

  • Core Questions:

    • How are individuals different and distinct from one another?

    • How do we maintain our identity consistently across time and situations?

    • How do these differences shape our identities?

  • Four Primary Approaches to Personality in Psychology:

    1. Trait Approach

    2. Psychodynamic Approach

    3. Humanistic Approach

    4. Social-Cognitive Approach

  • Historical Context: Personality became less emphasized as psychology moved toward learning and social psychology.

    • Key Experiments affecting this transition:

    • Watson and Little Albert Experiment

    • Milgram Experiment

    • Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

Temperament

  • Historical Perspective:

    • In the second century A.D., physician Galen identified four temperaments based on bodily humors:

    1. Sanguine (Blood) - enthusiastic, active, social

    2. Choleric (Yellow Bile) - independent, decisive, goal-oriented

    3. Melancholic (Black Bile) - analytical, detail-oriented, deep thinker and feeler

    4. Phlegmatic (Phlegm) - relaxed, peaceful, quiet

  • Modern Understanding:

    • Temperament is viewed as nervous system reactivity and arousal, exhibited primarily in the introversion/extroversion characteristic, observable from birth.

The Trait Approach

  • Traits: Stable predispositions to act or behave (can encompass attitudes, behaviors, emotions).

    • Focus: Classifying stable tendencies vs. temporary states that may influence behavior.

    • Example: Trait of hostility vs. state of anger.

  • Examples of Traits:

    • Anxiety Sensitivity: High levels linked to internalizing disorders (mood and anxiety disorders; GAD and PTSD).

    • Androgyny

    • Self-Handicapping: May serve as ego-protection.

    • Locus of Control and Self-Efficacy: Related to stress experience.

    • Introversion/Extroversion: A major trait reflecting social orientation.

    • Self-Monitoring: High vs. Low self-monitoring, and differences based on situational vs. dispositional contexts.

    • Self-Esteem

    • Optimism/Pessimism

    • Aggression/Social Approval

  • Gordon Allport's Contributions:

    • Focused on unique aspects of individuals.

    • Idiographic: Unique aspects and characteristics of individuals.

    • Nomothetic: Examines differences between people.

  • Factor Analysis: Used to identify collective predictors—traits that correlate with one another, contributing to an individual's unique personality profile.

Key Traits in Personality

  • Gordon Allport’s Trait Hierarchy:

    • Cardinal Traits: Rare; dominant in a person’s personality.

    • Central Traits: Common descriptive traits affecting behavior.

    • Secondary Traits: Less visible, relevant in specific contexts.

  • Raymond Cattell's Contributions:

    • Reduced 4,500 personality descriptors to 16 personality factors through factor analysis.

    • Identified source traits as foundational influences on behavior.

  • Hans Eysenck's Superfactors:

    • Proposed three superfactors:

    1. Extraversion

    2. Neuroticism

    3. Psychoticism

  • The Big Five Personality Traits:

    • Founded on repeated factors in personality measure factor analysis.

    • Non-overlapping dimensions:

    1. Openness: Willingness to explore new ideas and experiences.

    2. Conscientiousness: Persistence, dependability, achievements.

    3. Extraversion: Interest in others and positive emotions.

    4. Agreeableness: Cooperative and empathetic disposition.

    5. Neuroticism: Tendency to express negative emotions.

    • Mnemonic: OCEAN

    • These five factors comprise behavioral facets demonstrating personality's breadth.

Psychodynamic Approach to Personality

  • Overview: Examines the impact of unconscious drives/motivations and childhood experiences on personality and behavior.

  • Sigmund Freud’s Contributions:

    • Treated patients initially as a neurologist, focusing on hysterical disorders featuring symptoms with no physiological basis (e.g., glove anesthesia).

    • Suggested that troubling memories underlie such symptoms.

    • Emphasized the importance of unconscious dynamics in shaping behavior.

  • Freud’s Structure of Personality:

    1. Id: The primitive, pleasure-seeking component of personality.

    2. Ego: Manages reality and the demands of the Id.

    3. Superego: Represents societal norms and parental ideals imposed on the ego.

  • Personality Levels of Processing:

    • Conscious: Thoughts currently in awareness.

    • Preconscious: Easily accessible thoughts.

    • Unconscious: Thoughts not readily available to conscious awareness.

    • Metaphor: Personality model as an iceberg (most important aspects hidden below the surface).

  • Freud’s Psychosocial Development Model:

    • Stages emphasize the impact of childhood experiences on adult personality.

    • Stages based around erogenous zones include:

    1. Oral Stage: 0-1 year of life.

    2. Anal Stage: 1-2 years of life.

    3. Phallic Stage: 3-5 years; self-stimulation.

    4. Latency Stage

    5. Genital Stage: Puberty onward.

    • Fixations: Failure to progress through stages may result in adult personality issues:

    • Orally fixated: Passive dependency; habits such as nail-biting.

    • Anally fixated: Compulsiveness regarding order or mess.

    • Phallic fixation: Issues involving Oedipal complex, separating from parents.

Humanistic Approach to Personality

  • Foundation: Critiques previous theories (trait and psychodynamic) by emphasizing human potential and growth.

  • Humanists posit that self-concept and individual agency motivate actions, not unconscious drives.

    • Key Thinkers:

    • Abraham Maslow: Advocated for self-actualization, a movement toward potential fulfillment.

    • Carl Rogers: Emphasized self-concept organization; congruence between self-concept and reality reduces anxiety.

      • Highlights the importance of unconditional positive regard from others.

    • Self-efficacy: Belief in one’s ability to influence outcomes positively is associated with performance and resilience.

  • Social-Cognitive Approach:

    • Examines how environment and individual thought processes interact to shape personality.

    • Core Components:

      • Behavioral psychology: Conditioning and social modeling.

      • Cognitive psychology: Importance of beliefs and thought patterns.

    • Criticism: Does not address inherent temperament or biological stability factors.

Personality Assessment

  • Types of Personality Tests:

    • Self-Report Inventories:

    • Commonly used tools like the MMPI.

    • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI):

    • Frequently employed in mental health to identify personality structure and psychopathology.

    • MMPI-2: Composed of 567 true/false/cannot-say statements.

    • Sample MMPI-2 Questions:

      • "I like mechanics magazines."

      • "I think I would like the work of a librarian."

      • "I am easily awakened by noise."

      • "I have a good appetite."

      • (additional questions continue on subsequent items up to 567).

  • Other Reliable Measures:

    • NEO Personality Inventory: Tailored to Big Five traits, consists of 240 items.

    • NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI): Shorter version with 60 items.

    • Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5): Self-report tool for assessing DSM criteria, also a short version available.

  • Projective Tests:

    • Based on ambiguous stimuli; interpretative responses reveal facets of personality.

    • Rorschach Inkblot Test

    • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

  • Critique: Validity and reliability of projective tests remain debated.

  • Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI):

    • Developed to help women entering the workforce during WWII identify fitting jobs.

    • Based on Jungian theory with four dichotomous pairs leading to 16 personality types.

  • Myers-Briggs Dichotomies:

    • Extraversion/Introversion: Orientation towards external or internal environments.

    • Sensation/iNtuition: Ways of processing information.

    • Thinking/Feeling: Approach to decision-making.

    • Judging/Perceiving: Preferences for dealing with the outside world.

Consistency Controversy in Personality

  • Behavior Consistency:

    • Behavior influenced by personality is relatively stable over time and across situations.

  • Walter Mischel's Critique:

    • Argued that situational context plays a substantial role in determining behavior, possibly overshadowing traits.

    • Explored how different aspects of personality may manifest depending on the situation.

  • Self-Monitoring Defined:

    • Refers to how behavior adjusts based on situational demands.

  • High vs. Low Self-Monitors:

    • High Self-Monitors:

    • Concerned with social appropriateness, adaptable to situational cues, more inconsistent in self-presentation.

    • Low Self-Monitors:

    • Attuned to internal states rather than social cues, typically consistent in self-presentation, less concerned with social appropriateness.