SELF AND PERSONALITY

1. Self and personality refer to the characteristic ways in which we define our existence.
2. The behaviour of a particular person from one situation to another generally remains fairly
stable which represents the personality of that person.
3. Different persons seem to possess different personalities.
4. The personalities are reflected in the diverse behaviour of persons.
5. People are aware of self in the same way as we are aware of various objects in our surrounding
environment.
6. A newly born child has no idea of its self but as a child grows older, the idea of self is emerged
and formed.
7. Parents, friends, teachers play a vital role in shaping a child’s ideas about self.
8. Our interaction with other people, our experiences, and the meaning we give to them, serve as
the basis of our self.
9. The structure of self is modifiable in the light of our own experiences and the experiences we
have of other people.
10. Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him different from others.
11. Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social or cultural group
or are derived from it.
12. Self refers to the totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas, thoughts and feelings
with regard to herself or himself.
13. Self can be understood as a subject as well as an object.
14. The statement “I know who I am”, focuses on the self is being described as a ‘knower’ as well as
something that can be ‘known’.
15. As a subject (actor) the self actively engages in the process of knowing itself.
16. As an object (consequence) the self gets observed and comes to be known.
17. This dual status of self should always be kept in mind.
18. The several kinds of self gets formed as a result of our interactions with our physical and socio-
cultural environments.
19. The personal self leads to an orientation in which one feels primarily concerned with oneself.
20. The social self emerges in relation with others and emphasises such aspects of life as
cooperation, unity, affiliation, sacrifice, support or sharing.
21. Social Self values family and social relationships, hence, it is also referred to as familial or
relational self.
22. The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and attributes is
also called self-concept.
23. Finding out an individual’s self-concept is not easy.
24. Self-esteem is an important aspect of our self which focuses on ability to make judgment about
our own value or worth.
25. The value judgment of a person about herself/himself is called self-esteem.
26. Studies indicate that by the age of 6 to 7 years, children seem to have formed self-esteem at
least in four areas namely academic competence, social competence, physical/ athletic
competence, and physical appearance
27. Self-esteem shows a strong relationship with our everyday behaviour.
28. Children with high academic self-esteem perform better in schools than children with low self-
esteem
29. Children with low self esteem are often found to display anxiety, depression and increasing
antisocial behaviour.
30. Studies have shown that warm and positive parenting helps in the development of high self-
esteem among children
31. A person’s belief that s/he has the ability or behaviours required by a particular situation
demonstrates high self-efficacy.
32. The notion of self-efficacy is based on Bandura’s social learning theory.
33. Bandura’s initial studies showed that children and adults learned behaviour by observing and
imitating others.
34. A strong sense of self-efficacy allows people to select, influence, and even construct the
circumstances of their own life.
35. People with a strong sense of selfefficacy also feel less fearful.
36. Self-efficacy can be developed
37. Self-regulation refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour.
38. People, who are able to change their behaviour according to the demands of the external
environment, are high on selfmonitoring.
39. Many situations of life require resistance to situational pressures and control over ourselves.
40. Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control.
41. Self-control plays a key role in the fulfilment of long-term goals.
42. A number of psychological techniques of self-control have also been suggested like Observation
of own behavior, Self-instruction and Self-reinforcement.
43. Self-instruction is a technique in which we often instruct ourselves to do something and behave
the way we want to.
44. Self-reinforcement involves rewarding behaviours for oneself that have pleasant outcomes.
45. Several aspects of self seem to be linked to the characteristic features of the culture in which an
individual lives.
46. The most important distinction between the Indian and the Western views is the way the
boundary is drawn between the self and the other.
47. In the Western view, this boundary appears to be relatively fixed.
48. The Indian view of self is characterised by the shifting nature of this boundary.
49. The Western view seems to hold clear dichotomies between self and other, man and nature,
subjective and objective.
50. The Indian view of self does not make such clear dichotomies.
51. In the Western culture, the self and the group exist as two different entities with clearly defined
boundaries.
52. Individual members of the group in western culture maintain their individuality.
53. In the Indian culture, the self is generally not separated from one’s own group
54. In the Western culture, the self and the group remain at a distance.
55. Western cultures are characterised as individualistic, whereas Asian cultures are characterised
as collectivistic.
56. The literal meaning of personality is derived from the Latin word persona
57. Persona is the mask used by actors in the Roman theatre for changing their facial make-up.
58. In psychological terms, personality refers to our characteristic ways of responding to individuals
and situations.
59. Personality refers to unique and relatively stable qualities that characterise an individual’s
behaviour across different situations over a period of time.
60. Consistency in behaviour, thought and emotion of an individual across situations and across
time periods characterises a person’s personality.
61. Situational variations in behaviour do occur as they help individuals in adapting to their
environmental circumstances.
62. Personality is characterised physical and psychological components
63. Personality’s main features do not easily change with time.
64. Personality is dynamic as it may change due to internalor external situational demands.
65. Personality is adaptive to situations.
66. Once we are able to characterise someone’s personality, we can predict how that person will
probably behave in a variety of circumstances.
67. Behavioural characteristics of individuals is often used as synonyms of personality.
68. The type approaches attempts to comprehend human personality by examining certain broad
patterns in the observed behavioural characteristics of individuals.
69. The trait approach focuses on the specific psychological attributes along which individuals tend
to differ in consistent and stable ways.
70. The interactional approach holds that situational characteristics play an important role in
determining our behaviour.
71. People may behave as dependent or independent not because of their internal personality trait,
but because of external rewards or threats available in a particular situation.
72. The cross situational consistency of traits is found to be quite low.
73. The Greek physician Hippocrates had proposed a typology of personality based on fluid or
humour.
74. Hippocrates classified people into four types namely sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and
choleric.
75. In India also, Charak Samhita classifies people into the categories of vata, pitta and kapha on the
basis of three humoural elements called tridosha.
76. Each humoural element refers to a type of temperament called prakriti of a person.
77. There is also a typology of personality based on the trigunas, namely sattva, rajas, and tamas.
78. Sattva guna includes attributes like cleanliness, truthfulness, dutifulness, detachment, discipline
79. Rajas guna includes intensive activity, desire for sense gratification, dissatisfaction, envy for
others, and a materialistic mentality
80. Tamas guna characterises anger, arrogance, depression, laziness, feeling of helplessness, etc. All
the three gunas are present in each and every person in different degrees.
81. The personality types given by Sheldon based on body build and temperament as the main
basis.
82. Sheldon proposed the Endomorphic, Mesomorphic and Ectomorphic typology.
83. The endomorphs are fat, soft and round and by temperament they are relaxed and sociable.
84. The mesomorphs are strong musculature, rectangular with a strong body build, energetic and
courageous.
85. The ectomorphs are thin, long and fragile, brainy, artistic and introvert.
86. Jung has proposed another important typology by grouping people into introverts and
extraverts.
87. Introverts are people who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others, withdraw themselves in the
face of emotional conflicts and are shy.
88. Extraverts on the other hand, are sociable, outgoing, drawn to occupations that allow dealing
directly with people, and react to stress by trying to lose themselves among people and social
activity.
89. Friedman and Rosenman have classified individuals into Type-A and Type-B personalities
90. People with Type-A personality seem to possess high motivation, lack patience, feel short of
time, be in a great hurry, and feel like being always burdened with work.
91. Type A personality people find it difficult to slow down and relax.
92. Type-A personality people are susceptible to hypertension nd coronary heart disease (CHD) may
be caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, or smoking.
93. Type-B personality people who are relaxed, with a lot of patience, laid back, don’t feel
burdended, work at ease and at their own pace
94. Morris has suggested a Type-C personality which is prone to cancer
95. Individuals with Type C personality are cooperative, unassertive and patient, compliant.
96. Type-D personality is characterised by proneness to depression.
97. Trait Approaches are mainly concerned with the description or characterisation of basic
components of personality.
98. Trait approach attempts to identify primary characteristics or building blocks of personality in
people.
99. A trait is considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs
from another.
100. Traits are relatively stable over time, consistent across situations and their strengths and
combinations vary across individuals leading to individual differences in personality.
101. Gordon Allport is considered the pioneer of trait approach.
102. According to Alport, individuals have traits which are dynamic in nature.
103. The traits integrate stimuli and responses which otherwise look dissimilar.
104. Allport categorised traits into cardinal, central and secondary.
105. Cardinal traits are highly generalised dispositions.
106. Cardinal traits indicate the goal around which a person’s entire life seems to revolve.
107. Less pervasive in effect but still quite generalised dispositions are called central traits.
108. Central traits are often used in writing a testimonial or job recommendation for a person.
109. The least generalised characteristics of a person are called secondary traits.
110. Allport acknowledged the influence of situations on behavior
111. Raymond Cattell believed that there is a common structure on which people differ from each
other.
112. Raymond Cattell applied a statistical technique, called factor analysis, to discover the common
structures and found 16 primary or source traits.
113. The source traits are stable, and are considered as the building blocks
114. Cattell developed a test called Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), for the
assessment of personality.
115. H.J. Eysenck proposed that personality could be reduced into two broad dimensions namely
biological and genetic dimension.
116. These dimensions given by Eysenck were Neuroticism vs. emotional stability, Extraversion vs
introversion, Psychoticism vs. Sociability
117. People with high level of neuroticism are anxious, moody, touchy, restless and quickly lose
control.
118. People with high level of emotional stability are people who are calm, even tempered, reliable
and remain under control.
119. People with high level of extraversion are people who are active, gregarious, impulsive and
thrill seeking.
120. People with high level of Introversion are people who are passive, quiet, cautious and reserved.
121. A person who scores high on psychoticism dimension tends to be hostile, egocentric, and
antisocial.
122. Psychodynamic Approach was given by Sigmund Freud.
123. Freud used free association, dream analysis, and analysis of errors to understand the internal
functioning of the mind.
124. Freud visualises the human mind in terms of three levels of consciousness.
125. The first level is conscious, which includes the thoughts, feelings and actions of which people are
aware.
126. The second level is preconscious, which includes mental activity of which people may become
aware only if they attend to it closely.
127. The third level is unconscious, which includes mental activity that people are unaware of.
128. According to Freud, the unconscious is a reservoir of instinctive or animal drives and leads to
psychological conflicts.
129. Unsuccessful resolution of conflicts results in abnormal behaviour.
130. Freud developed a therapeutic procedure, called psychoanalysis.
131. The basic goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring the repressed unconscious materials to
consciousness, thereby helping people to live in a more self-aware and integrated manner.
132. The primary structural elements of personality according to freud are id, ego and superego.
133. Id is the source of a person’s instinctual energy.
134. ID deals with immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires and aggressive impulses.
135. ID works on the pleasure principle, which assumes that people seek pleasure and try to avoid
pain.
136. Id does not care for moral values, society, or other individuals.
137. Ego works by the reality principle, and often directs the id towards more appropriate ways of
behaving.
138. The id is demanding, unrealistic and works according to pleasure principle whereas the ego is
patient, reasonable, and works by the reality principle.
139. Superego is the moral branch of mental functioning.
140. The superego tells the id and the ego whether gratification in a particular instance is ethical.
141. Freud assumed that id is energised by two instinctual forces, called life instinct and death
instinct.
142. The instinctual life force that energises the id is called libido.
143. Libido works on the pleasure principle, and seeks immediate gratification.
144. Ego Defence Mechanism is a way of reducing anxiety by distorting reality.
145. In repression anxiety provoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious
and become totally unaware of that wish or desire.
146. In projection people attribute their own traits to others.
147. In denial a person totally refuses to accept reality.
148. In reaction formation a person defends against anxiety by adopting behaviours opposite to
her/his true feelings.
149. In rationalisation a person tries to make unreasonable feelings or behaviour seem reasonable
and acceptable.
150. People who use defence mechanisms are often unaware of doing so.
151. Freud claims that the core aspects of personality are established early, remain stable
throughout life, and can be changed only with great difficulty.
152. He proposed a five-stage theory of personality (also called psychosexual) development.
153. Problems encountered at any stage may arrest development, and have long-term effect on a
person’s life.
154. Oral Stage is a newborn’s instincts are focused on the mouth and it is the infant’s primary
pleasure seeking center.
155. The infant achieves oral gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting and babbling.
156. At oral stage , people’s basic feelings about the world are established and adult who considers
the world a bitter place probably had difficulty during the oral stage of development.
157. At Anal Stage the child learns to control the bodily functions of urination and defecation.
158. The anal area of the body becomes the focus of certain pleasurable feelings.
159. Anal stage establishes the basis for conflict between the id and the ego, and between the desire
for babyish pleasure and demand for adult, controlled behaviour.
160. At the Phallic Stage the focus is on the genitals.
161. At the phallic Stage children become aware of sexuality and the sexual relationship between
their parents.
162. The male child experiences the Oedipus Complex, which involves love for the mother, hostility
towards the father, and the consequent fear of punishment or castration by the father
163. A major developmental achievement of this stage is the resolution of the Oedipus complex.
164. This takes place by accepting his father’s relationship with his mother, and modelling his own
behaviour after his father.
165. The Electra Complex is seen by attaching her love to the father a girl tries to symbolically marry
him and raise a family.
166. The critical component in resolving the Oedipus complex is the development of identification
with the same sex parents.
167. In other words, boys give up sexual feelings for their mothers and begin to see their fathers as
role models rather than as rivals; girls give up their sexual desires for their father and identify
with their mother.
168. At Latency Stage the child continues to grow physically, but sexual urges are relatively inactive.
169. At this stage a child’s energy is channelled into social or achievement related activities.
170. At Genital Stage the person attains maturity in psychosexual development.
171. At genital stage, people learn to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually
mature way.
172. Failure of a child to pass successfully through a stage leads to fixation to that stage.
173. Regression occurs when a person’s resolution of problems at any stage of development is less
than adequate.
174. In regression, people display behaviours typical of a less mature stage of development.
175. Post-Freudian Approaches are characterised by less prominent roles to sexual and aggressive
tendencies of the id and expansion of the concept of ego.
176. According to the Post Freudian Approaches, the human qualities of creativity, competence, and
problem solving abilities are more important.
177. Carl Jung focused on Aims and Aspirations
178. Jung developed his own theory of personality, called analytical psychology.
179. The basic assumption of Jung’s theory is that personality consists of competing forces and
structures within the individual
180. Jung claimed that there was a collective unconscious consisting of archetypes or primordial
images which are inherited.
181. Jung held that the self strives for unity and oneness.
182. Karen Horney focused on Optimism
183. Horney emphasised on human growth and selfactualisation.
184. According to Horney, each sex has attributes to be admired by the other, and neither sex can be
viewed as superior or inferior.
185. She countered that women were more likely to be affected by social and cultural factors than by
biological factors.
186. Horney said that psychological disorders were caused by disturbed interpersonal relationship
during childhood.
187. When parents’ behaviour toward a child is indifferent, discouraging, and erratic, the child feels
insecure and a feeling called basic anxiety results.
188. Alfred Adler focused on Lifestyle and Social Interest
189. Adler’s theory is known as individual psychology.
190. Adler says that human behaviour is purposeful and goal directed.
191. Our personal goals are the sources of our motivation.
192. In Adler’s view, every individual suffers from the feelings of inadequacy and guilt, i.e. inferiority
complex, which arise from childhood.
193. Overcoming inferiority complex is essential for optimal personality development.
194. Erich Fromm focused on the Human Concerns in contrast to Freud’s biological orientation
195. Fromm developed his theory from a social orientation.
196. Fromm argued that psychological qualities such as growth and realisation of potentials resulted
from a desire for freedom, and striving for justice and truth.
197. While culture is shaped by the mode of existence of a given society, people’s dominant
character traits in a given society work as forces in shaping the social processes and the culture
itself.
198. Erik Erikson focused on Search for Identity
199. Erikson’s theory lays stress on rational, conscious ego processes in personality development.
200. In Erik’s theory, development is viewed as a lifelong process, and ego identity is granted a
central place in this process.
201. Psychodynamic theories face strong criticisms like they are largely based on case studies, they
lack a rigorous scientific basis, they use small and atypical individuals as samples for advancing
generalisations, the concepts are not properly defined, and it is difficult to submit them to
scientific testing and Freud has used males as the prototype of all human personality
development and overlooked female experiences and perspectives.
202. Behavioural Approach gives importance to the internal dynamics of behaviour.
203. The behaviourists believe in data, which they feel are definable, observable, and measurable.
204. Behaviourists focus on learning of stimulus-response connections and their reinforcement.
205. According to them, personality can be best understood as the response of an individual to the
environment.
206. For most behaviourists, the structural unit of personality is the response.
207. Observational learning theory emphasizes social learning and self-regulation, which again is
missed out in other theories.
208. Cultural Approach attempts to understand personality in relation to the features of ecological
and cultural environment.
209. It proposes that a group’s ‘economic maintenance system’ plays a vital role in the origin of
cultural and behavioural variations.
210. The climatic conditions, the nature of terrain of the habitat and the availability of food (flora and
fauna) in it determine not only people’s economic activities, but also their settlement patterns,
social structures, division of labour, and other features such as childrearing practices.
211. The cultural approach considers personality as an adaptation of individuals or groups to the
demands of their ecology and culture.
212. Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow have particularly contributed to the development of
humanistic perspective on personality.
213. The most important idea proposed by Rogers is that of a fully functioning person.
214. He believes that fulfilment is the motivating force for personality development.
215. There is an inborn tendency among persons that directs them to actualise their inherited nature.
216. Rogers makes two basic assumptions about human behavior: One is that behaviour is goal-
directed and worthwhile and the second is that people (who are innately good) will almost
always choose adaptive, self-actualising behaviour.
217. Rogers suggests that each person also has a concept of ideal self.
218. An ideal self is the self that a person would like to be.
219. When there is a correspondence between the real self and ideal self, a person is generally happy
but if there is Discrepancy between the real self and ideal self often results in unhappiness and
dissatisfaction.
220. Rogers’ basic principle is that people have a tendency to maximise self-concept through self-
actualisation.
221. Rogers views personality development as a continuous process.
222. He recognises the role of social influences in the development of self-concept.
223. When social conditions are positive, the self-concept and self-esteem are high.
224. When the conditions are negative, the self-concept and selfesteem are low.
225. People with high self concept and self-esteem are generally flexible and open to new
experiences, so that they can continue to grow and self actualise.
226. Maslow had an optimistic and positive view of man who has the potentialities for love, joy and
to do creative work.
227. Human beings are considered free to shape their lives and to self-actualise.
228. Self-actualisation becomes possible by analysing the motivations that govern our life.
229. The real journey of human life begins with the pursuit of self-esteem and selfactualisation
needs.
230. The humanistic approach emphasises the significance of positive aspects of life.
231. A formal effort aimed at understanding personality of an individual is termed as personality
assessment.
232. Assessment refers to the procedures used to evaluate or differentiate people on the basis of
certain characteristics.
233. The goal of assessment is to understand and predict behaviour with minimum error and
maximum accuracy.
234. Assessment is useful for diagnosis, training, placement, counselling, and other purposes.
235. The most commonly used techniques used to assess personality are Psychometric Tests, Self-
Report Measures, Projective Techniques, and Behavioural Analysis.
236. Allport suggested that the best method to assess a person is by using self-report measures.
237. Self Report measures are are structured measures, require subjects to give verbal responses
using some kind of rating scale.
238. The method requires the subject to objectively report her/his own feelings with respect to
various items.
239. They are scored in quantitative terms and interpreted on the basis of norms developed for the
test.
240. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) was developed by Hathaway and
McKinley.
241. MMPI consists of 567 statements and has 10 subscales which are answered as Yes or No.
242. It diagnose a person on hypochondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate,
masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizophrenia, mania and social introversion.
243. In India, Mallick and Joshi have developed the Jodhpur Multiphasic Personality Inventory (JMPI)
along the lines of MMPI.
244. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) Developed by Eysenck this test initially assessed two
dimensions of personality, called introverted-extraverted and emotionally stable-emotionally
unstable.
245. These dimensions are characterised by 32 personality traits.
246. Eysenck added a third dimension, called psychoticism.
247. Psychoticism is linked to psychopathology that represents a lack of feeling for others, a tough
manner of interacting with people, and a tendency to defy social conventions.
248. A person scoring high on this dimension tends to be hostile, egocentric, and antisocial.
249. Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) was developed by Cattell.
250. The test provides with declarative statements, and the subject responds to a specific situation
by choosing from a set of given alternatives.
251. The test can be used with high school level students as well as with adults.
252. It has been found extremely useful in career guidance, vocational exploration, and occupational
testing.
253. The self-report measures suffer from a number of problems like Social desirability and
Acquiescence
254. Social Desirability is a tendency on the part of the respondent to endorse items in a socially
desirable manner.
255. Acquiescence is a tendency of the subject to agree with items/questions irrespective of their
contents.
256. Psychological testing and understanding personality requires great skill and training.
257. Projective Techniques tend to rely on information directly obtained from the person who clearly
knows that her/his personality is being assessed.
258. Direct methods of personality assessment cannot uncover the unconscious part of our
behaviour.
259. Projective techniques were developed to assess unconscious motives and feelings.
260. These techniques are based on the assumption that a less structured or unstructured stimulus
or situation will allow the individual to project her/his feelings, desires and needs on to that
situation.
261. While the nature of stimuli and responses in the Projective techniques vary enormously, all of
them do share the following features: (1) The stimuli are relatively or fully unstructured and
poorly defined. (2) The person being assessed is usually not told about the purpose of
assessment and the method of scoring and interpretation. (3) The person is informed that there
are no correct or incorrect responses. (4) Each response is considered to reveal a significant
aspect of personality. (5) Scoring and interpretation are lengthy and sometimes subjective.
262. Projective techniques cannot be scored in any objective manner.
263. They generally require qualitative analyses for which a rigorous training is needed.
264. The Rorschach Inkblot Test This test was developed by Hermann Rorschach.
265. The test consists of 10 inkblots, Five of them are in black and white, two with some red ink, and
the remaining three in some pastel colours.
266. The size of the white cardboard is about 7”*10”.
267. The cards are administered individually in two phases - performance proper and inquiry
268. In the first phase, called performance proper the subjects are shown the cards and are asked to
tell what they see in each of them.
269. In the second phase, called inquiry, a detailed report of the response is prepared by asking the
subject to tell where, how, and on what basis was a particular response made.
270. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was developed by Morgan and Murray.
271. TAT consists of 30 black and white picture cards and one blank card.
272. Each picture card depicts one or more people in a variety of situations.
273. Some cards are used with adult males or females, while others are used with boys or girls.
274. Twenty cards are appropriate for a subject, although a lesser number of cards (even five) have
also been successfully used.
275. The subject is asked to tell a story describing the situation presented in the picture: What led up
to the situation, what is happening at the moment, what will happen in the future, and what the
characters are feeling and thinking?
276. Uma Chaudhury developed and Indian adaptation of TAT.
277. In Sentence Completion Test, the starting part of the sentence is first presented and the subject
has to provide an ending to the sentence.
278. The type of endings used by the subjects reflect their attitudes, motivation and conflicts.
279. Draw-a-Person Test is a simple test in which the subject is asked to draw a person on a sheet of
paper.
280. After the completion of the drawing, the subject is generally asked to draw the figure of an
opposite sex person.
281. Finally, the subject is asked to make a story about the person as if s/he was a character in a
novel or play.
282. Rosenzweig’s Picture-Frustration Study (P-F Study) was developed by Rosenzweig to assess how
people express aggression in the face of a frustrating situation.
283. The test presents with the help of cartoon like pictures a series of situations in which one person
frustrates another, or calls attention to a frustrating condition.
284. The subject is asked to tell a story and the analysis of responses is based on the type and
direction of aggression.
285. The attempt is made to examine whether the focus is on the frustrating object, or on protection
of the frustrated person, or on constructive solution of the problem.
286. Pareek has adapted this test for use with the Indian population.
287. The analysis of personality helps to understand unconscious motives, deep-rooted conflicts, and
emotional complexes of an individual.
288. Observation of behaviour serves as the basis of behavioural analysis.
289. Interview involves talking to the person being assessed and asking specific questions.
290. Interviews may be structured or unstructured depending on the purpose or goals of assessment.
291. In unstructured interviews, the interviewer seeks to develop an impression about a person by
asking a number of questions.
292. The structured interviews address very specific questions and follow a set procedure.
293. In Behavioural observation all of us watch people and form impressions about their personality.
294. Observation for personality assessment cannot be carried out by untrained people.
295. Observation and interview methods are characterised by the following limitations: (1)
Professional training required for collection of useful data through these methods is quite
demanding and timeconsuming. (2) Maturity of the psychologist is a precondition for obtaining
valid data through these techniques. (3) Mere presence of the observer may contaminate the
results.
296. As a stranger, the observer may influence the behaviour of the person being observed and thus
not obtain good data.
297. Behavioural Ratings are generally taken from people who know the assessee intimately and
have interacted with her/him over a period of time or have had a chance to observe her/him.
298. They attempt to put individuals into certain categories in terms of their behavioural qualities.
299. The categories may involve different numbers or descriptive terms.
300. In order to use ratings effectively, the traits should be clearly defined in terms of carefully stated
behavioural anchors.
301. The method of rating suffers from the following major limitations:
(1) Raters often display certain biases that colour their judgments of different traits which often
forms the basis of a rater’s overall judgment of a person called the halo effect. (2) Raters have a
tendency to place individuals either in the middle of the scale called middle category bias) by
avoiding extreme positions, or in the extreme positions called extreme response bias by
avoiding middle categories on the scale.
302. Nomination is a method is used with persons who have been in long-term interaction and who
know each other very well.
303. In using nomination, each person is asked to choose one or more persons of the group with
whom s/he would like to work, study, play or participate in any other activity.
304. The person may also be asked to specify the reason for her/his choices.
305. Nomination is a technique has been found to be highly dependable, although it may also be
affected by personal biases.
306. The most commonly used test of the Situational Test kind is the situational stress test.
307. The test requires a person to perform a given task with other persons who are instructed to be
non-cooperative and interfering.