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Summary of Concepts

LO 1     Define personality.

Personality refers to the unique, core set of characteristics that influence the way one thinks, acts, and feels—characteristics many psychologists would agree are consistent and enduring throughout the life span. Personality differs from persona in that persona refers to a role, not human personality.

LO 2     Distinguish how the perspectives of psychology explain personality development.

The psychoanalytic perspective suggests that personality development is heavily influenced by processes of which we are unaware, how they are expressed, and the way caregivers respond. The behavioral perspective describes and explains how the environment shapes personality, and specifically, how reinforcers influence behaviors. The humanistic perspective suggests that we have capabilities we can and should take advantage of as we strive for personal growth, and the choices we make in life influence our personalities. The social-cognitive perspective focuses on relationships, environmental influences, cognitive activity, and individual behavior as they come together to form personality. The biological perspective suggests physiological and genetic factors for some components of personality development. Trait theories look at current dimensions of the individual to describe and predict personality.

LO 3     Illustrate Freud’s models for describing the mind.

Psychoanalysis refers to Freud’s views regarding personality as well as his system of psychotherapy and tools for the exploration of the unconscious. According to his topographical model, our personalities and behaviors result from mental processes that occur at three levels: the conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. The structural model of the mind describes the functions of the components of the mind. The id is the most primitive component of personality. The activities in the id occur at the unconscious level. The ego develops as the infant grows; the ego finds ways to manipulate situations, plan for the future, solve problems, and make decisions in order to satisfy the needs of the id. The superego develops last and is the part of our personality that guides our behavior to follow the rules of society, parents, or other authority figures.

LO 4     Summarize Freud’s use of psychosexual stages to explain personality.

The developmental model helps explain personality and sexuality in terms of a standard developmental path through what Freud called the psychosexual stages. He believed all children must go through these stages as they mature into adulthood. Associated with each stage is an erogenous zone as well as a conflict that must be dealt with. If the conflict is not successfully resolved, the child may suffer from a fixation and get “stuck” in that particular stage, not able to progress smoothly through the remaining stages. The stages include the oral stage, anal stage, phallic stage, latency period, and genital stage.

LO 5     Explain how the neo-Freudians’ theories of personality differ from Freud’s.

Some of Freud’s followers branched out on their own due to disagreements about certain issues, such as his focus on the instincts of sex and aggression, his idea that personality is determined by the end of childhood, and his somewhat negative view of human nature. Adler proposed that humans are conscious and intentional in their behaviors. Jung suggested that we are driven by a psychological energy (as opposed to sexual energy), which encourages positive growth, self-understanding, and balance. Horney emphasized the role of relationships between children and their caregivers, not erogenous zones and psychosexual stages.

LO 6     Describe how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs relates to personality.

Maslow proposed a hierarchy of needs, which represents a continuum of drives that are universal and ordered in terms of their strength. He suggested that although we respond to these needs in a similar order, we have the ability to make choices in our lives to be proactive, striving to reach our fullest potential.

LO 7     Discuss Rogers’ view of self-concept, ideal self, and unconditional positive regard.

Rogers proposed that the development of personality is highly influenced by the role of caregivers in the life of a child. He suggested there is an innate urge in humans to move toward and be attracted to situations and people that will help us grow, and to avoid those that have the potential to stop our growth. Self-concept is one’s knowledge of one’s strengths, abilities, behavior patterns, and temperament. Rogers believed that individuals develop an ideal self, which refers to the self-concept we strive for and fervently wish to achieve. Ideally, caregivers should show unconditional positive regard, which is the total acceptance of a child regardless of behavior. People need to feel totally accepted and valued for who they are, not what they do.

LO 8     Use learning theories to explain personality development.

According to learning theory, personality is a compilation or collection of behaviors, all of which have been shaped through a lifetime of reinforcement and conditioning. Some behaviorists use learning principles to explain personality, including classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning.

LO 9     Summarize Rotter’s view of personality.

Rotter suggested that not all aspects of behavior and personality can be directly observed. He believed a key component of personality is locus of control, which is a pattern of beliefs regarding where responsibility or control for an outcome exists. Rotter explored how these beliefs can influence behavior. Expectancy is a person’s predictions about what a behavior will lead to in terms of consequences or outcomes.

LO 10     Discuss how Bandura uses the social-cognitive perspective to explain personality.

Bandura rejected the notion that psychologists should only focus on observable behavior; he realized behavior is determined by cognitions as well as reinforcers and other environmental influences. He used this social-cognitive perspective to explain personality. Personality results from patterns of thinking (cognitive) in addition to our relationships and other environmental factors (social). Reciprocal determinism refers to the multidirectional interaction among beliefs, behaviors, and the environment.

LO 11     Distinguish trait theories from other personality theories.

Traits are the relatively stable properties of an individual that describe elements of personality. The trait theories are different from other personality theories in that they focus less on explaining why and how personality develops, and more on describing personality and predicting behaviors. Allport created a comprehensive list of traits to help operationalize the terminology used in personality research. Cattell grouped the traits into two categories: surface traits and source traits. He used factor analysis to group surface traits in 16 personality factors and developed the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) to measure them. Eysenck proposed that we could describe personalities using three dimensions: introversion–extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. He also worked to understand the biological basis of these dimensions.

LO 12     Identify the biological roots of the five-factor model of personality.

The five-factor model of personality, also known as the Big Five, is another trait approach to explaining personality, which includes the following factors: extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Researchers have conducted studies across the world and found similar results regarding the genetic basis of the five-factor model using twin and adoption studies. These characteristics have proven stable over time, suggesting the changing environments that most individuals experience across life do not have as great an impact on personality as inherited characteristics.

LO 13     Explain why reliability and validity are important in personality assessment.

Reliability generally refers to two aspects of a personality assessment: test–retest reliability and interrater reliability. Test-retest reliability is consistency of results when the same person takes a test more than once. Interrater reliability refers to the consistency across people scoring an assessment. Validity refers to the degree to which an assessment measures what it is intended to measure. A valid test must yield results similar to established assessments. We need to ensure that the results from assessments are consistent and dependable. Both reliability and validity are important in the assessment of personality because they help render the assessments effective.

LO 14     Define projective tests and evaluate their strengths and limitations.

Personality influences perceptions. With projective personality tests, a test taker is shown a stimulus that has no specified meaning and then prompted to respond, thus projecting meaning onto it. Testers interpret and uncover underlying personality characteristics from these responses—characteristics that might not be accessible through interview or observation. One strength of this type of assessment is its unstructured nature, which makes it less threatening to test takers, therefore provoking less resistance. Limitations include the amount of time needed to administer the assessment as well as the subjective nature of its interpretation, which can lead to problems with the reliability of the test. Some of the best-known projective tests are the Rorschach Inkblot Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

LO 15     Describe objective personality tests and evaluate their strengths and limitations.

Objective personality tests are made up of a standard set of questions with previously established answers (true/false, multiple choice, circle the number). One strength of this type of personality test is that it is scored in a standardized way, free of any personal intuition or bias. Limitations of this type of assessment include the potential for dishonesty on the part of test takers as well as the tendency for individuals to unintentionally answer questions in a way that makes them “look better” or be viewed in a more favorable light by others (social desirability). Two commonly used objective personality tests are the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI–2) and the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF).

key terms

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