© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Psychology in Action, Fifth Edition by Karen Huffman, Mark Vernoy, and Judith Vernoy PowerPoint  Lecture Notes Presentation Chapter 13: Personality Paul J. Wellman Texas A&M University

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Lecture Overview Personality Assessment Trait Theories of Personality Psychoanalytic Theories of Personality Humanistic Personality Theory Social-Cognitive Approach to Personality Biological Theories of Personality

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Personality Personality refers to a person’s unique and relatively stable pattern of thoughts, feelings, and actions Personality is an interaction between biology and environment –Genetic studies suggest heritability of personality –Other studies suggest learned components of personality

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Measures of Personality Interviews –Unstructured: “Tell me about yourself…” –Structured: Set list of questions Observation: Psychologist learns about personality by observing the person Objective tests: self-inventories Projective tests: subjects reveal their personality during description of ambiguous stimuli

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Projective Tests Projection is the notion that people reveal their true feelings and thoughts when describing ambiguous stimuli Projective tests present ambiguous stimuli and ask that subjects describe the stimuli –The idea is that their verbal descriptions will reveal key aspects of their personality

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Specific Projective Tests Rorschach test –Consists of 10 inkblots –Reliability and validity of this test is low Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) –Consists of a series of ambiguous figures –Was devised to measure achievement motivation by Henry Murray in 1938

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Personality Measurement Issues Objective self-report personality tests can be criticized on the basis of –Deliberate deception and social desirability bias Can the test detect deception and social desirability? –Diagnostic difficulties: may not be sufficiently specific to allow for diagnosis –Inappropriate use: when tests are used for purposes other than their designed use Use of a personality test to decide on a promotion

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Personality Traits Traits are relatively stable and consistent personal characteristics Trait personality theories suggest that a person can be described on the basis of some number of personality traits –Allport identified some 4,500 traits –Factor analysis techniques: basic traits –Eysenck argued there are 3 distinct traits Extraversion/introversion, neuroticism, psychotocism

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e The “Big 5” Modern personality research argues for 5 basic personality traits (OCEAN) Openness: whether a person is open to new experiences Conscientiousness: whether a person is disciplined and responsible Extroversion: whether a person is sociable, outgoing and affectionate Agreeableness: whether a person is cooperative, trusting, and helpful Neuroticism: whether a person is unstable and prone to insecurity

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e The Big “5”

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Evaluating Trait Theory Trait theory, especially the Big 5 model is able to describe personality –Cross-cultural human studies find good agreement for the Big 5 model –Primate personality is accurately described by the big 5 Problems with trait theory include: –Lack of explanation as to why traits develop –Issue of explaining transient versus long- lasting traits

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Psychoanalytic Theory Psychoanalytic theory attempts to explain personality on the basis of unconscious mental forces –Psychoanalytic theory was devised by Freud Levels of consciousness: Freud argued that much of our mental states are unconscious Freud argued that personality is made up of multiple structures, some of which are unconscious Freud argued that we have impulses that cause us anxiety; our personality develops defense mechanisms to protect against anxiety

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Levels of Consciousness

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Analytical Psychology Analytical psychology emphasized the unconsciousness mind and its influence on dream processes –Devised by Carl Jung –Two forms of unconscious mind Personal unconscious: unique for each person Collective unconscious: consists of primitive images and ideas that are universal for humans

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Criticisms of Psychonalytic Theory  Difficult to test  Overemphasis on unconscious forces  Inadequate evidence  Sexism  Lack of cross-cultural support

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Humanistic Theory Humanistic personality theories reject psychoanalytic notions –Humanistic theories view each person as basically good and that people are striving for self-fulfillment –Humanistic theory argues that people carry a perception of themselves and of the world –The goal is to develop a positive self- concept

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Issues for Humanistic Theory Naïve assumptions Poor testability and inadequate evidence Narrowness

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Interactionism

© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Huffman/Vernoy/Vernoy: Psychology in Action 5e Copyright Copyright 2000 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the copyright owner.