[Short notes]

Topic 2: Personality
Jan- May 2024
Note: Read reference textbooks

Definition
• Complex set of psychological qualities that influence individuals characteristics
patterns of behaviour.
• Individuals, unique and relatively stable patterns of behaviour, thoughts, and feelings.
• Gordon Allport defines personality as the dynamic organization within the
individual of those psychophysical systems that determines one’s characteristic
behaviours and thoughts. By dynamic organization, Allport means that although
personality is constantly changing and growing, the growth is organized, not
random. Psychophysical means that personality is composed of both mind and body
functioning together as a unit. It is neither all mental nor all biological. By
determine, Allport means that all facets of personality activate or direct specific
behaviors and thoughts. The phrase characteristic behavior and thought means that
everything we think and do is characteristic, or typical, of us. Thus, each person is
unique.
• Interactionist perspective: Behaviour in any situation is a function of both personality
and external or situational factors
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
• Psychoanalytic Approach
• Trait and type Approach
• Behavioural and social learning Approach
• Humanistic Approach

PSYCHOANALYTIC APPROACH
Sigmund Freud: Freud was born in 1856, in Freiberg, Moravia, which is now the town of
Pribor, in the Czech Republic. His father was a relatively unsuccessful wool merchant. When
his business failed in Moravia, he moved the family to Leipzig, Germany, and then later, when
Freud was 4, to Vienna, where Freud remained for almost 80 years.
Freud psychoanalyzed himself through the study of his own dreams, a process he continued for
the rest of his life. When he started, he wrote to a friend that “The chief patient I am busy with
is myself” (quoted in Kandel, 2012, p. 63). It was during this period that he performed his
most creative work in developing his theory of personality. Thus, he formulated much of his
theory around his own neurotic conflicts and childhood experiences, as filtered through his
interpretations of his dreams. As he perceptively observed, “The most important patient for me
was my own person” (Freud quoted in Gay, 1988, p. 96).
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Psychoanalytic approach by Freud: Freud’s personality theory is the most comprehensive
theory of the human nature. This theory explains personality, development, motivation,
abnormality, and treatments.
According to this theory at the core of personality are events with in a person’s mind
[intrapsychic events] that motivate behaviour. People are unaware of the many of their
motivations because sometimes motivation operates in a unconscious level. Every human
action has a cause and purpose that can be discovered through analysis of thought
association, dreams and behaviours.
The primary data for Freud hypothesis about personality came from clinical observations and
in depth case studies of individual patients in therapy. The central topic in this theory include:
1. Levels of consciousness
2. The structure of personality
3. Anxiety and defence mechanism
4. Psychosexual stages of development
Levels of consciousness: Human mental functioning has 3 levels:

• Conscious level: The current thoughts such as thinking and experiencing at the current
moment.
• Preconscious/ Subconscious: Memories that are part of current thought but can readily
be brought to mind if the need arises.
• Unconscious: Thoughts, desires, and impulses that are largely unaware.
• Most of the functioning of human mind occurs below the threshold of the conscious
experiences. Violent, aggressive motives, unacceptable sexual desires, shameful
experiences, fears etc
• Freud believed that most of these was part of conscious but has been actively
repressed – because it was anxiety provoking such as shameful experiences,
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 unacceptable sexual or aggressive urges.
Structure of Personality: ID, EGO, SUPEREGO

“Id the devil that sits on your shoulder”

• Id consists of primitive innate urges (biological) and acting on impulses.
• Biologically based urges: to eat, drink, eliminate, sexually stimulated/libido
• It is totally unconscious, operates according to pleasure principle, irrationally, and seeks
for immediate gratification.
• It represent our animal urges. It does not consider what is realistically possible, socially
desirable and morally acceptable.
• For example- a child is solely driven by ID operates on pleasure principle/ sitting down
and eating the whole bunch of snack
“Super ego is the angel on your shoulder”
• Distinguish between what is right and what is wrong
• Heightened or enlarged sense of self-worth and sense of morality
• Operates on very high moral principle
• For example; super ego reminds you it is not good eat all the snack may be share with
your siblings/ family.
• Part of super ego resides in unconscious and part of it resides on consciousness
“The reality based aspect of the self- the manager”
• Ego is responsible for the rationale decisions
• Governed by reality principle which put reasonable choices before pleasurable
demands
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 • The task is to hold the id, check until conditions allow for satisfaction of its impulses-
it delays gratification of the id impulses and thus avoid undesirable consequences.
• Balances the id and super ego and helps to make decision and rationale choice
The three components of personality are often in conflict: The ego postpones the
gratification that the id wants immediately, and the superego battles with both the id and
the ego because behavior often falls short of the moral code it represents. In the well-
integrated personality, the ego remains in firm but flexible control; the reality principle
governs. In terms of his earlier iceberg model, Freud proposed that all of the id and most of
the ego and superego are submerged in the unconscious and that small parts of the ego and
superego are in either the conscious or the preconscious.
Defence mechanism
Defence mechanism (Freud & Anna Freud)
• The conflicts between the demands of the id and the rules and restrictions of the
superego lead to anxiety for the ego, which uses defense mechanisms to deal with that
anxiety.
• Techniques used by the ego to keep threatening and unacceptable material out of
consciousness, and so to reduce anxiety
• An unconscious reaction pattern employed by the ego to protect itself from the
anxiety that arises from psychic conflict. Such mechanisms range from mature to
immature, depending on how much they distort reality
• Defense mechanisms are maladaptive only when they become the dominant mode of
responding to problems

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 • All defense mechanisms differ in forms; all serve the function of dealing with anxiety
by keeping unacceptable urges an impulses from breaking into consciousness. When
the defense no longer work, the person may experience mental breakdowns.
•
Death instinct and life instinct by Freud: Freud talked about two instincts-those are inborn
drives created by the organs of the body. Eros [life instinct] promotes survival by directing
life sustaining such as breathing, eating and sex. Thanos [death instinct] negative force that
drives people toward aggressive and destructive behaviours.

Libido fixation
• According to Freud, the source of motivation for human actions is the psychic energy
found with in each individual. This is libido (Latin word lust) - the psychic energy
that powers all mental activity.
• Freud conceived of Libido energy as narrowly sexual, but subsequently he broadened
the concept to include all expressions of love, pleasure, and self-preservation
• If an excessive amount of libido energy is tied to a particular stage, however, fixation
results.
• Fixation: Excessive investment of psychic energy in a particular stage of
psychosexual development; this results in various types of psychological disorders.

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 Psychosexual stages of development
According to Freud, all human beings pass through a series of discrete psychosexual
stages of development. At each stage, pleasure is focused on a particular part of the body.
Too much or too little gratification at any stage can result in fixation and can lead to
psychological disorders.

1. Oral Stage 0-2 yrs • Pleasure is centered in the region of the mouth.
• Infants derive pleasure from nursing and sucking
and begin to put anything they can reach into
their mouths.

• Fixation in oral stage can result in oral

personality –characterized by concerns with
taking in’ from others and environment.
2. Anal Stage 2-3 yrs • Pleasure are focused on the expulsion and
retention of feces.
• Conflict with parents who are attempting toilet
training, the child’s first experience with
imposed control.
• Fixation at this stage develop an anal
personality- rigid, preoccupied with issues of
control, possession and cleanliness.
3. Phallic 3-7 yrs • Pleasure is centered in the genital region. During
Stage this stage Oedipus complex develops.
• They observe the differences between males and
females and begin to direct their awakening
sexual impulses toward the parent of the
opposite sex.

Oedipus Around the age of 5 or 6, according to Freud, a boy’s

Complex sexual impulses are directed toward his mother. This
leads him to perceive his father as a rival for his
mother’s affection.

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 3. Phallic Stage Oedipus Complex A crisis of psychosexual development in which
children must give up their sexual attraction to
their opposite-sex parent.
• Children who do not resolve the issues
of phallic stage are said to develop
personalities that are overly preoccupied
with issues of power, authority, jealousy.

4. Latency Stage 7-12 yrs • Resolution of the Oedipus complex

• Overt sexual interest is sublimated and
the child’s attention is focused on skills
and peer activities with members of his
or her own sex.
• Children become less concerned with
their bodies and turn their attention to
the skills needed for coping with their
environment

5. Genital Stage 12-adult • Individuals acquire the adult capacity to

combine lust with affection
• The mature phase of adult sexuality and
functioning

Freud believed that special problems at any stage could arrest, or fixate, development and
have a lasting effect on personality. The individual’s libido would remain attached to the
activities appropriate for that stage. A person who was weaned very early and did not have
enough sucking pleasure might become fixated at the oral stage. As an adult, he or she might
be excessively dependent on others and overly fond of oral pleasures such as eating, drinking,
and smoking. Such a person is said to have an oral personality. A person fixated at the anal
stage of psychosexual development may be abnormally concerned with cleanliness,
orderliness, and saving and may tend to resist external pressure. Such a person is said to have
an anal personality. Inadequate resolution of the Oedipal conflict can lead to a weak sense of
morality, difficulties with authority figures, and many other problems.

Freud’s theory an evaluation and criticisms

• Most comprehensive and influential theory and later theories have arises either
supporting or opposing Freud’s ideas.
CRITICISM:
• Difficulty to evaluate it scientifically- unconscious process
• Freud’s major research method was the case study- It does not rely on objective
observation, the data are not gathered in systematic fashion, and the situation (the
psychoanalytic session) is not amenable to duplication and verification.
• Another criticism of Freud’s research is that it is based on a small and unrepresentative
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 sample of people, restricted to himself and those who sought psychoanalysis with him.
Only a dozen or so cases have been detailed in Freud’s writings, and most of these
were of young, unmarried, upper-class women of good education. It is difficult to
generalize from this limited sample to the population at large.
• It is retrospective- after events have occurred.
Neo-Freudians
Personality theorists who accepted basic portions of Freud’s theory but rejected or modified
other portions. Psychoanalytic theory has been modified by later psychologists, notably Carl
Jung, Anna freud and Harry Stack Sullivan.
• Freud’s theory has been further extended by his daughter Anna, who played a
particularly important role in clarifying the defense mechanisms (1946/1967) and
applying psychoanalytic theory to the practice of child psychiatry (1958).
• Originally one of Freud’s most dedicated followers, Jung eventually came to disagree
profoundly with some aspects of Freud’s theory and founded his own school of
psychology, which he called analytic psychology.

Summary:
• Freud’s theory of personality development proposes that individuals pass through
psychosexual stages and must resolve the Oedipal conflict, in which the young child
sees the same-sex parent as a rival for the affection of the opposite-sex parent.
• Freud’s theory of personality dynamics proposes that there is a constant amount of
psychic energy (libido) for each individual. If a forbidden act or impulse is suppressed,
its energy will seek an outlet in some other form, such as dreams or neurotic symptoms.
The theory assumes that unacceptable id impulses cause anxiety, which can be reduced
by defense mechanisms.
• Psychoanalytic theory has been modified by later psychologists, notably Carl Jung and
Harry Stack Sullivan.
• Psychologists who take the psychoanalytic approach sometimes use projective tests,
such as the Rorschach Test and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Because the test
stimuli are ambiguous, it is assumed that the individual projects his or her personality
onto the stimulus, thereby revealing unconscious wishes and motives.

TRAIT APPROACH
• Personality trait is an enduring quality or attribute that predisposes individuals to
behave consistently across situations.
• Trait theories of personality focus: Can we identify the key dimensions on people and
can we measure how much they differ?
• Temperament: Individual’s constitutional pattern of reactions, with a similar range of
characteristics- these are called dispositions (physiological)
1. GORDOM ALLPORT
2. RAYMOND CATTELL

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 Allport
• Allport challenged Freud’s psychoanalysis on several points. Allport did not accept the
notion that unconscious forces dominate the personality of normal mature adults. He
argued that emotionally healthy people function rationally and consciously, aware and
in control of many of the forces that motivate them.
• Allport said that we are not prisoners of childhood conflicts and past experiences, as
Freud believed. Allport wrote that people are “busy leading their lives into the future,
whereas psychology, for the most part, is busy tracing them into the past” (Allport,
1955, p. 51).
• Allport opposed collecting data from abnormal personalities. Whereas Freud saw a
continuum between the normal and abnormal, Allport saw a clear distinction. The only
proper way to study personality, he believed, was to collect data from emotionally
healthy adults.
• To Allport, distinguishing characteristics that guide behavior. Traits are measured on a
continuum and are subject to social, environmental, and cultural influences.
• Traits are the building block of personality and source of individuality. Traits were wired
into the nervous system to guide one’s behavior across many different situations and that
each person’s “constellation” of traits was unique.
Three types of trait
1. Cardinal trait: A single trait that dominates an individuals’ entire personality.
A cardinal trait is so pervasive and influential that it touches almost every
aspect of a person’s life. Allport described it as a ruling passion, a powerful
force that dominates behavior. He offered the examples of sadism and
chauvinism. Not everyone has a ruling passion, and those who do may not
display it in every situation. For example: Mother Teresa for kindness;
Florence Nightingale for the desire to help others; Napoleon for the lust for
power.
2. Central trait: The five or 10 traits that best describes an individuals’
personality; such as honesty or optimism can exists in a person.
Everyone has a few central traits, some 5 to 10 themes that best
describe our behavior. Allport’s examples are aggressiveness, self-
pity, and cynicism. These are the kinds of characteristics we would
mention when discussing a friend’s personality or writing a letter
of recommendation.
3. Secondary trait: Traits that exert relatively weak effect on behavior for
example food or dress preferences. The least influential individual
traits are the secondary traits, which appear much less consistently
than cardinal and central traits. Secondary traits may be so
inconspicuous or weak that only a close friend would notice evidence
of them. They may include, for example, a minor preference for a
particular type of music or for a certain food.
Unique combination of these three types of traits that makes each person a singular
entity
How to study personality?

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 Allport also argued that projective techniques, such as the Thematic Apperception Test and
the Rorschach inkblot test, may present a distorted picture of the normal personality
because they deal with unconscious forces that have little effect on the normal adult
personality. Allport suggested that more reliable information could be obtained by simply
asking people to describe themselves, a method that reveals their dominant traits. Allport
use some nomothetic methods involving the statistical analysis of differences among large
samples of subjects when he believed them to be appropriate.

Allport to Cattell: In the 1930s Allport and Odbert (1936) recorded approximately 18,000
words in the English dictionary that refer to characteristics of behavior – nearly 5 percent of
all the words in the dictionary! Next, they reduced the list to about 4,500 terms that
represented the most typical traits. Subsequent researchers have used such trait terms to
obtain personality ratings of individuals. Peers who know an individual well are asked to rate
him or her on a scale for each trait. For example, a rater might be asked to rate the person on
the trait of friendliness, using a seven-point scale ranging from ‘not at all friendly’ to ‘very
friendly’. Individuals can also be asked to rate themselves on the scales. In the mid-1940s,
Raymond Cattell (1943, 1945) condensed the Allport-Odbert list to 171 traits and obtained
ratings for each trait (de Raad, 1998). He then used statistics (factor analysis) to determine
how many underlying personality factors could account for the pattern of correlations among
the trait ratings. His analysis yielded 12 factors, to which he added 4 more factors to
represent traits.

RAYMOND CATTELL

Personality is that which permits a prediction of what a person will do in a given situation. The
hallmark of Cattell’s approach was his treatment of the data. He submitted them to the
statistical procedure called factor analysis- a statistical technique based on correlations
between several measures, which may be explained in terms of underlying factors. If the two
measures showed a high correlation with one another, Cattell concluded that they measured
similar or related aspects of personality. For example, if the anxiety and introversion scales of
a personality test yielded a high correlation coefficient, we could conclude that both scales
were measuring the same personality characteristic. Thus, two sets of data about a person are
combined to form a single dimension, or factor. Cattell referred to these factors as traits, which
he defined as the mental elements of the personality.

Two types of traits as surface traits and source traits

1. Surface traits: Surface traits: A characteristic manifested as a group of interrelated
observable behaviors. For example, arriving early for appointments and leaving the
office only after one’s work is complete are visible manifestations of the
characteristic of conscientiousness. Also several behavioral elements such as anxiety,
indecision, and irrational fear combine to form the surface trait labeled neuroticism.
Surface traits appear consistently and are thought to cluster and to reflect source
traits.
2. Source traits: Unitary personality factors that are much more stable and permanent.
Each source trait gives rise to some aspect of behavior. Source traits are those
individual factors derived from factor analysis that combine to account for surface
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 traits. For example neuroticism (worrying most of the time, unstable and sensitive) is
source trait.
Cattell identified 16- source traits using factor analysis (the extend to which the various traits
are correlated) technique later developed 16 Personality Factors (16PF) questionnaire.
16 Personality Factor (16PF)
https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/16PF.php

After more than two decades of intensive factor-analytic research, Cattell (1965) identified 16
source traits as the basic factors of personality. These factors are best known in the form in
which they are most often used, in an objective personality test called the Sixteen Personality
Factor (16 PF) Questionnaire [the fifth edition, 1993]. In Cattell’s system, source traits are the
basic elements of personality just as atoms are the basic units of the physical world. Versions
for adults, children and adolescents are available.

16 source traits
1. Abstractedness: Imaginative versus practical
2. Apprehension: Worried versus confident
3. Dominance: Forceful versus submissive
4. Emotional stability: Calm versus high-strung
5. Liveliness: Spontaneous versus restrained
6. Openness to change: Flexible versus attached to the familiar
7. Perfectionism: Controlled versus undisciplined
8. Privateness: Discreet versus open
9. Reasoning: Abstract versus concrete
10. Rule-consciousness: Conforming versus non-conforming
11. Self-reliance: Self-sufficient versus dependent
12. Sensitivity: Tender-hearted versus tough-minded
13. Social boldness: Uninhibited versus shy
14. Tension: Inpatient versus relaxed
15. Vigilance: Suspicious versus trusting
16. Warmth: Outgoing versus reserved

Towards BIG-5: The five factor Model

Too many factors by Cattel- criticism

Despite these disagreements, a consensus is emerging among many trait researchers that five
trait dimensions capture most of what we mean by personality – referred to as the ‘Big Five’
(Goldberg, 1981). Although the five factors were originally identified through a factor
analysis of the Allport-Odbert trait list, the same five have emerged from a wide variety of
personality tests (McCrae & Costa, 1999). There is still disagreement about how best to name
and interpret the factors, but frequently used names include Openness to experience,
Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism- OCEAN.
Many personality psychologists consider the discovery and validation of the Big Five to be
one of the major break-throughs of contemporary personality psychology. Proponents of the
Big Five argue that these core personality traits organize the myriad of more narrowly
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 focused personality characteristics that have been discussed by other researchers (McCrae &
Costa, 2006). In other words, they argue that all aspects of personality are subsumed under
the Big Five.
Big Five (McCrae & Costa, 1996)
Five trait dimensions known as five factor model represent the descriptions of human
personality
BIG FIVE (Goldberg & Lewis, 1992): http://openpsychometrics.org/tests/IPIP-BFFM/
OCEAN

• Willingness to try new things and be open to new

Openness experiences.
• Original, independent, creative, daring

• Careful (about being places on time and careful with

Conscientiousness belongings), reliable, hardworking, organized

• Outgoing, sociable, talkative, fun-loving, affectionate

Extraversion

• Soft-hearted, trusting, good- natured, courteous

Agreeableness

• Emotional instability, excessive worriers, nervous,

Neuroticism insecure, and moody

The factors are stable over the lifetime, appear in many cultures, are valid predictors of
emotions and behaviors in many situations, and can influence many aspects of our
behavior. These five factors and its identification in persons’ are very useful information
for survival according to evolutionary theorist. However, it has been criticised for its
cultural compatibility even though researchers claim universality of these facts.

The Dark Triad of Personality

Paulhus and Williams, of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, introduced a
three-factor approach to understanding the darker side of personality, which includes the
following traits (2002):
❑ Narcissism: Extreme selfishness, an inflated sense of one’s abilities and talents, and the
constant need for admiration and attention.
❑ Machiavellianism: The need to manipulate others, characterized by cunning, deceit,
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 and unscrupulous behaviors.
❑ Psychopathy: Callous, insensitive, egocentric, antisocial, takes advantage of other
people, using great charm and often violence.

Summary: An evaluation on Trait approach

• Trait approach is accepted and widely used for different realms like recruitment,
counselling etc.
Criticisms
• Trait theories supports the inheritance (may account for as much as 50 percent) of
personality, however less information available on how these traits have been
developed and influence the behavior w.r.t. the genetical factors.
• Trait–situation interaction: The assumption that a particular circumstance of any
given situation is assumed to influence the way in which a trait is expressed.

TYPE APPROACH
• An old approach to describe personality by classifying people into a limited number
of distinct types
• Personality types are all-or-none phenomenon, not matter of degree. If a person is
assigned one type, the person could not belong to any other type with in that system.
Early Indian typology
• The Guna typology of ancient India categorized people into 3 types based on the
dominance of Gunas in them- Sattwa, Rajas, and Tamas. These 3 Gunas correspond
roughly to the modern concepts of stability, activation and inertia respectively.

1. HIPPOCRATES & GALEN

2. WILLIAM SHELDON
3. CARL JUNG

Hippocrates & Galen

• Hippocrates in 5th century B.C. claimed that body contained 4 humors each associated
with particular temperament.
• In the second century A.D. another Greek physician Galen suggested that an
individual’s personality dependent on which humor was predominant in their body.
• The four humors are:
• Blood- Segaine temperament- Cheerful & Active
• Phlegm- Phelgmatic temperament- Apathetic & Sluggish

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 • Black bile- Melancholy temperament- Sad & Brooding
• Yellow bile- Choleric temperament- Irritated & Excitable

William Sheldon
• A type theory related to physique to temperament. He assigned people into three
categories based on their body structure.
• Criticism: This theory has no value in predicting an individual behaviour

Endomorphs Fat/ soft/ round Relaxed, fond of eating and

sociable

Mesomorphs Muscular/ rectangle People filled with energy,

courage and assertive tendency

Ectomorphs Thin/ long/ fragile Brainy, artistic and introverted

Carl Jung

Much of our conscious perception of our environment, and how we react to it, is
determined by the opposing mental attitudes of extraversion and introversion. Jung
believed that psychic energy could be channeled externally, toward the outside world,
or internally, toward the self.
• Those who seek excitation from the outside- primarily by interaction with others
[EXTROVERT]. Extraverts are open, sociable, and socially assertive, oriented
toward other people and the external world.
• Those who are excited by the events that occur inside them- by keeping silent
and observing them [INTROVERT]. Introverts are withdrawn and often shy, and
tend to focus on themselves, on their own thoughts and feelings.
According to Jung, all of us have the capacity for both attitudes, but only one becomes
dominant in our personality. The dominant attitude then tends to direct our behavior
and consciousness. The nondominant attitude still remains influential, however, and
becomes part of the personal unconscious, where it can affect behavior.
For example, in certain situations an introverted person may display characteristics of
extraversion, and wish to be more outgoing, or be attracted to an extravert.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (1920s)

• An assessment instrument related to Jung’s personality theory is the Myers-Briggs Type

Indicator (MBTI), developed in the 1920s by Katharine Cook Briggs and Isabel Briggs
Myers
• MBTI personality test designed to classify individuals according to their expressed
choices between contrasting alternatives in certain categories of traits. The categories,
based on Jungian typology, are (a) Extraversion–Introversion, (b) Sensing–Intuition, (c)
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 Thinking–Feeling, and (d) Judging–Perceiving. The participant is assigned a type (e.g.,
INTJ, ESFP) according to the pattern of choices made.
• The test has little credibility among research psychologists but is widely used in
educational counseling and human resource management (hiring and promotion) to help
improve work and personal relationships, increase productivity, and identify
interpersonal communication preferences and skills.

Humanistic approach

• The “third force” in psychology that focuses on those aspects of personality that make
people uniquely human, such as subjective feelings and freedom of choice.
• Personality characterized by a concern for the integrity of individual’s personal and
conscious experiences and growth potential.
• Carl rogers: Fully functioning individuals- people who strive to experience life to the
fullest; they are sensitive to the needs and rights of others; do not allow society
standards to shape their feelings or actions to an excessive degree.
• Abraham Maslow: Need hierarchy and self-actualization
•
Behavioural and social learning approach
• Personality is seen as sum of the individual’s behaviour established as a results of
reinforcement history

• Human beings have a capacity to regulate their own action through feedbacks
such as reinforcement and punishments.

• Albert Bandura: People don’t simply respond to reinforcements; rather they think
about the consequences of their actions, anticipate future events and establish
goals and plans. Self-reinforcements- individuals reward themselves for reaching
their own goal.

Personality Assessment
PAST
• World War I and II – psychologists employed in military hospitals; large scale testing
(somatoform disorder, phantom limbs, selection of suitable candidates for secret
missions) (Harrell, 2017)
• Personality assessments for recruitments in different sectors
PRESENT
• Systematic review revealed personality traits changed as a result of clinical
interventions (Roberts et al., 2017) and personality tends to change in the direction of
greater maturity as people age (Bleidorn, 2022)
• All theories/approaches to personality assume that individual differences exist and can

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 be accurately measured
• Different approaches support different assessment techniques
For example:
• Freud assessed personality using free association and dream analysis
technique
• Cattell used self-reports
• Roger focused on human conscious experiences
• Bandura observed behavior
Terminologies
Instrument/Inventory: A large personality inventory consisting of many scales or tests (e.g.,
the Big Five Personality Inventory)
Test/Scale: Several items that measure one personality dimension (e.g., one of the scales on
the Big Five, such as extraversion scale)
Item: A single element (for instance, a statement from a scale) such as one item from a scale
Standardization: The consistency and uniformity of conditions and procedures for
administering an assessment device.
Reliability: Consistency of scores on a test; whether similar scores are obtained when the test
is administered repeatedly
• Example of an unreliable measure: A personality test that gives different results each
time it is used; a thermometer that gives a different temperature reading every time we
use it.
Validity: Whether a test measures what it purports to measure. A personality test which is
not valid may provide a misleading portrait about a persons emotional strength and weakness.
Example: If a test originally developed to assess resilience actually measures well being

There are objective (Self report surveys) and subjective assessments (projective tests) of
Personality
Objective assessments- Questionnaires and inventories
• 16 PF (see above)
• MBTI (see above)
• BIG five factor (see above)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Minnesota Multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI)

• First published in 1940 and now one of the most widely used self-report tools for
assessing personality.

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 • MMPI-2, which has 567 true/false questions, and the newer MMPI-2-RF (restructured
form), published in 2008 and containing only 338 true/false items
• Useful in identifying normal people vs. anti-social, schizophrenics, depressives,
hypochondriacs
• Age: 18+
• It has broad applications across a range of mental health, medical, substance abuse,
forensic, and personnel screening settings as a measure of psychological
maladjustment.
Projective measures- TAT; Rorschach, silence completion test

• Name derived from the defense mechanism of “projection”

• Used by psychologists who believe that individuals project their unconscious wishes,
latent thoughts, aspirations, deepest fears onto the stimulus presented
• Ambiguous stimuli are presented to the subject and they are required to respond
• Ambiguity in the stimulus allows individuals to respond freely (without restrictions)
thereby resulting in gathering rich and varied responses
• Individuals usually are not aware of what these tests assess. Otherwise, they might
consciously or unconsciously distort responses
• Test developers have made an attempt to make the stimuli free of cultural theme

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• Developed by Henry Murray & Christiana Morgan
• Indian adaptation by Uma Choudhary
• Apperception = Understanding a new phenomenon in the light of already-understood-
phenomena
• Apperception is introspective. It is defined as the process of understanding something
newly observed in terms of past experience. It is comprehension by assimilation with
one’s previous knowledge and experience (Rosello, 2009)
• The TAT consists of a series of pictures that depict individuals in certain situations-
The pictures are ambiguous and hence maybe interpreted in any way
• Respondents weave stories about each picture. The respondent is asked:
• what is going on in the picture
• the thoughts and feelings of people in the picture
• what led up to the situation and what the outcome is likely to be
• When interpreting ambiguous situations, individuals project their own goals, needs,
worries, wishes and concerns onto the characters in the story

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ROSHARCH Inkblot test
• Developed by Hermann Rorschach; test consists of 10 unstructured inkblots, mostly
black & white
• “What might this be?”
• The examiner classifies the responses according to such structural and thematic
(content) factors as color (C), movement (M), detail (D), whole (W), popular or
common (P), animal (A), form (F), and human (H). Various scoring systems, either
qualitative or quantitative, are used.
• Rorschach believed that the ink blots are perceived differently by different people,
and these perceptions are related to the subjects' unobservable psychological issues
• Interpretations are not made on the basis of single responses to individual cards only.
All responses on the overall test are considered in order to come to a conclusion.
• Evidence should be supported by other cues such as the behavior of individual during
the testing. Example: Paranoid responses may be confirmed by observing paranoid
behavior during testing
Sentence completion test

Draw a man test

Applications
• Industrial psychology: personnel, accident proneness, absenteeism
• Forensic psychology: criminal behavior, legal insanity, finding culprits
• Child psychology, educational psychology, developmental psychology
• Counseling and clinical psychology: Diagnosis and treatment, choice of treatment
procedures, prognosis

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