This document provides an overview of various theories and approaches to understanding personality in psychology. It discusses early theories like phrenology and Freud's psychodynamic perspective. It also summarizes the work of neo-Freudians like Adler, Jung, and Horney who built upon Freud's ideas. Additionally, it covers learning approaches like behavioralism and social cognitive theory. The document also discusses humanistic approaches of Maslow and Rogers as well as biological theories involving genetics and temperament. Finally, it summarizes trait theories including the work of Cattell, Eysenck, and the identification of core personality traits.

1. Chapter 11 PERSONALITY
PowerPoint Image Slideshow
PSYCHOLOGY

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What makes two individuals have different personalities? (credit: modification of work
by Nicolas Alejandro)
FIGURE 11.1

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Happy, sad, impatient, shy, fearful, curious, helpful. What characteristics describe your
personality?
FIGURE 11.2

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11.1 WHAT IS PERSONALITY?
Personality refers to the long-standing traits and patterns
that propel individuals to consistently think, feel, and
behave in specific ways.

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The pseudoscience of measuring the areas of a person’s skull is known as phrenology.
(a) Gall developed a chart that depicted which areas of the skull corresponded to particular personality traits or
characteristics (Hothersall, 1995).
(b) An 1825 lithograph depicts Gall examining the skull of a young woman. (credit b: modification of work by
Wellcome Library, London)
FIGURE 11.3

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Developed from Galen’s theory of the four temperaments, Kant proposed trait words to
describe each temperament. Wundt later suggested the arrangement of the traits on
two major axes.
FIGURE 11.4

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11.1 WHAT IS PERSONALITY
Freud’s psychodynamic
perspective of personality was the
first comprehensive theory of
personality.
Freud’s lasting contribution has
been that childhood experiences
matter and have lasting effects on
personality.

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Freud believed that we are
only aware of a small
amount of our mind’s
activities and that most of it
remains hidden from us in
our unconscious. The
information in our
unconscious affects our
behavior, although we are
unaware of it.
FIGURE 11.5

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The job of the ego, or self, is to balance the aggressive/pleasure-seeking drives of the
id with the moral control of the superego.
FIGURE 11.6

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11.3 NEO-FREUDIANS: ADLER, ERIKSON, JUNG AND
HORNEY
Followed- up Freud.
Agreed with some but not all of what he stated.
They modified and built upon is theories of personality.

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Alfred Adler proposed the concept of the inferiority complex.
Individual psychology, focuses on our drives to compensate for feelings of inferiority.
People are striving to seek superiority after feelings of inferiority in childhood.
FIGURE 11.8

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ADLER CONTINUED
Adler identified 3 fundamental social tasks:
1. Occupational tasks
2. Societal tasks
3. Love tasks
Contribution to personality :
Our birth order shapes our personality

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ADLER CONTINUED
Adler identified 3 fundamental social tasks:
1. Occupational tasks
2. Societal tasks
3. Love tasks
Contribution to personality :
Our birth order shapes our personality <- research does not
support this idea

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ERIK ERIKSON

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• Carl Jung was interested in
exploring the collective
unconscious.
• Created is how theory called
analytical psychology.
• Balance between conscious
and unconscious
• Continuous processing, mainly
in the 2nd stage of life
FIGURE 11.9

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JUNG
• Collective unconscious: hold mental patterns or
memory traces which are common to all of us.
• Archetypes: ancestral memories represented by
universal themes.
• Extroversion vs Introversion: two approaches to life
• Almost all models of personality include
these concepts
Photos by Unknown Authors are licensed under CC BY

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11.4 LEARNING APPROACHES

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THE BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE
• B. F. Skinner
• Believed that environment was solely responsible for
all behavior, including those described by personality
theories
• we learn to behave in particular ways according to the
principals of operant conditioning
• responses can change as we come across new
situations

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THE SOCIAL-COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE
• Bandura
• emphasizes both learning and cognition as
sources of individual differences in
personality
• key concepts
• reciprocal determinism
• observational learning
• self-efficacy

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Bandura proposed the idea of reciprocal determinism: Our behavior, cognitive
processes, and situational context all influence each other.
FIGURE 11.10

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SELF EFFICACY
• Bandura
• Level of confidence in our own abilities, developed
through our social experiences

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Locus of control occurs on a continuum from internal to
external.
Refers to our beliefs about the power we have over our
lives.
FIGURE 11.11

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WALTER MISCHEL AND THE PERSON-SITUATION
DEBATE
• Noticed that personality traits were not consistent
across all situations
• Self-regulation
• Ability to identify and set goals
• Use feedback to maximize goal attainment
• Commonly associated with will power and
delayed gratification

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11.5 HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
• Focused on how healthy people develop
• Maslow investigated people he viewed as healthy, creative,
productive
• Common characteristics were open, creative, loving,
spontaneous, compassionate, concerned for others, and
accepting of themselves.
• Believe people have innate capacity for self-directed
change
This Photo by Unknown
Author is licensed under
CC BY-SA
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under
CC BY-SA

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11.5 HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
Carl Rogers
• Self-concept: thoughts and feelings about yourself
• Ideal-self: who you would like to be
• Real-self: who you actually are
• Congruence- real-life = ideal-self
• Parents play a role
• Unconditional love (positive regard)
• Conditions of worth
This Photo by Unknown
Author is licensed under CC
BY-NC-ND

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11.6 BIOLOGICAL APPROACHES
Nature vs Nurture
• Twin studies show that some characteristics have a
strong heritable ratio >.50
• leadership, obedience to authority, a sense of
well-being, alienation, resistance to stress, and
fearfulness.
Temperament
• Believed to have a biological basis
• Two traits seen into adulthood
• Reactivity
• Self-regulation

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Sheldon proposed three somatotypes: endomorphs, mesomorphs, and ectomorphs. Do
you think Sheldon’s ideas about somatotypes are generally accurate about most
people?
FIGURE 11.12

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11.7 TRAIT THEORISTS
Traits: characteristic ways of behaving

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CATTELL
• Theory focuses on the degree to which we fall on continuums of
traits.
• 16 factors of personality (16PF)
Factor Low Score High Score
Warmth Reserved, detached Outgoing, supportive
Intellect Concrete thinker Analytical
Emotional stability Moody, irritable Stable, calm
Aggressiveness Docile, submissive Controlling, dominant
Liveliness Somber, prudent
Adventurous,
spontaneous
Sensitivity Tough-minded Sensitive, caring
Paranoia Trusting Suspicious
Introversion Open, straightforward Private, shrewd
Anxiety Confident Apprehensive
Openmindedness
Closeminded,
traditional
Curious, experimental
Perfectionism Disorganized, casual Organized, precise
Tension Relaxed Stressed

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Hans and Sybil Eysenck
believed that our
personality traits are
influenced by our genetic
inheritance.
Focused on temperament
(credit:
"Sirswindon"/Wikimedia
Commons)
FIGURE 11.13

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The Eysencks described two factors to account for
variations in our personalities: extroversion/introversion
and emotional stability/instability.
FIGURE 11.14

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FIVE FACTOR MODEL
• It is the most popular theory
• High reliability
• High consistency across culture, age, and ethnicities
• Have biological and genetic components

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FIGURE 11.15

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11.8 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS OF
PERSONALITY

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Researchers found three distinct regional personality clusters in the United States.
People tend to be friendly and conventional in the Upper Midwest and Deep South;
relaxed, emotionally stable, and creative in the West; and stressed, irritable, and
depressed in the Northeast (Rentfrow et al., 2013).
FIGURE 11.16

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11.9 PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

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If you’ve ever taken a survey, you are probably familiar with Likert-type scale questions.
Most personality inventories employ these types of response scales.
FIGURE 11.17

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These true/false questions resemble the kinds of questions you would find on the
MMPI.
FIGURE 11.18

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These incomplete sentences resemble the types of questions on the RISB. How would
you complete these sentences?
FIGURE 11.19