personality psychology

Module Overview

Pack: A4
Cohort: 2021/2022
Personality Module Team: Ms. Stephanie Borg Bugeja, Dr. Olivia Galea Seychell, Dott. Mireille Vila, Dr. Miriam Geraldi Gauci
Additional Reading: Simplified Psychology, Chapter 18 - Personality

Definition: Personality consists of the stable and internal factors that make an individual's behavior consistent over time and different from others in similar situations (Child, 1968).
Cultural Impact:
- Personality perception changes across cultures, influenced by whether a culture is individualistic or collectivistic.
- Individualistic Cultures: Emphasize autonomy, independence, and uniqueness.
- Collectivistic Cultures: Focus on interdependence, social conformity, and family connections.
Stability vs. Flexibility:
- Stable personality traits (e.g., introversion) vs. socially defined self-descriptions (e.g., I am a brother).

Purpose of Assessment:
- To refine clinical diagnoses, structure interventions, and predict behaviors across various settings (clinical, forensic, organizational, educational).
Assessment Tools:
- Observations, interviews, standardized questionnaires, and review of past records.
Types of Assessments:
- Self-report Scales: Individuals report on their own traits.
  - Norm-referenced Tests: Benchmarked against a representative group to provide context to scores (Eysenck, 2018).
Reliability & Validity:
- Reliability: Consistency of assessment over various situations.
- Validity: Accuracy of what the test measures.
Social Desirability Bias: Difficulty in accurately portraying oneself due to the desire to create a favorable impression.

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Approach: Explores the interplay of the id (biological drives), ego (reality), and superego (moral constraints).
- Importance of childhood and parental influence on adult personality.
Defence Mechanisms: Strategies used to handle anxiety and conflicts between the id and superego.
Trait Theories: Focus on enduring traits that define personality, emphasizing genetic influence and assessment through questionnaires and expert evaluations.

Components of Personality:
- Id: Drives to satisfy basic needs; pleasure principle.
- Ego: Mediates demands of the id and reality.
- Superego: Represents morality and societal rules.
Defensive Strategies:
- Occurs when the ego struggles to balance id and superego demands, leading to anxiety and the use of defense mechanisms.

Stages: Includes oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital stages, each affecting personality development.
- Oral Stage (0-18 months): Focus on oral gratification which influences future dependencies and sarcasm.
- Anal Stage (18 months - 3.5 years): Conflict through potty training shaping authority interaction.
- Phallic Stage (3.5 - 6 years): Oedipus and Electra complexes shape gender identity and relationships.
- Latency Stage (6 years - puberty): Social and academic focus with repressed sexual impulses.
- Genital Stage (puberty onward): Emergence of altruistic love and healthy relationships.

Raymond Cattell's Theory: Introduced 16 personality factors through the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF).
Eysenck’s Model: Proposed three primary traits: introversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism, emphasizing genetic contributions to personality.

Five Personality Factors: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism.
Cultural Relevance: Cross-cultural studies support the relevance and application of these traits.
Behavioral Predictors: Traits predict expected behavior in social settings.

Triadic Reciprocal Model: Highlights interaction between personality, behavior, and environment.
Self-efficacy: Confidence in abilities is crucial for motivation and performance, influenced by prior successes and social persuasion.

Core Principles: Emphasize free will, self-actualization, and individual dignity, countering the deterministic views in psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Framework of human motivation leading to self-actualization, involving a base level of psychological needs upwards.
Rogers' Focus on Self: Emphasizes unconditional positive regard and conditions of worth on self-esteem and personal growth.

Strengths & Weaknesses: Each theory presents its strengths in explaining behaviors and developmental processes, while also facing critiques regarding empirical support and cultural relevance.