SELF AND

PERSONALITY
CHAPTER 2
 SELF AND PERSONALITY

• Self and personality refer to the characteristic ways in which

we define our existence.
• Relatively stable patterns of behaviour represents the
PERSONALITY.
• Parents, friends, teachers and other significant persons play
a vital role in shaping a child’s ideas about self.
• The structure of self is modifiable in the light of our own
experiences and the experiences we have of other people.
 CONCEPT OF SELF

• Personal identity refers to those attributes of a person that make her/him

different from others.

• Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that link her/him to a social
or cultural group or are derived from it.

• Self refers to the totality of an individual’s conscious experiences, ideas,

thoughts and feelings with regard to herself or himself.
 SELF AS SUBJECT AND SELF AS
OBJECT
• As a subject (actor) the self actively engages in the
process of knowing itself. Eg: Doing something

• As an object (consequence) the self gets observed

and comes to be known. Eg: Being affected
 KINDS OF SELF
• There are several kinds of self.
• They get formed as a result of our interactions with our physical and socio-cultural
environments.
THE PERSONAL SELF
•Primarily concerned with oneself.
•Personal freedom, personal responsibility, personal achievement, or personal comforts.
THE SOCIAL SELF
•In relation with others
•Aspects of life as cooperation, unity, affiliation, sacrifice, support or sharing.
•This self values family and social relationships.
•Also referred to as familial or relational self.
 SELF-CONCEPT

• The way we perceive ourselves and the ideas we hold about our competencies and
attributes is also called SELF-CONCEPT.

• At a very general level, this view of oneself is, overall, either positive or negative.

• Specific level, a person may have a very positive view of her/his athletic bravery, but a
negative view of her/his academic talents.

• More specific level, one may have a positive self-concept about one’s reading ability but a
negative one about one’s mathematical skills.
 SELF-ESTEEM
• Self-esteem is an important aspect of our self.
• As persons we always make some judgment about our own value or worth.
• This value judgment of a person about herself/himself is called self-esteem.
• In order to assess self-esteem we present a variety of statements to a person, and ask her/
him to indicate the extent to which those statements are true for her or him.
• Studies indicate that by the age of 6 to 7 years, children seem to have formed self-esteem at
least in four areas:
• Academic Competence, Social Competence, Physical/ Athletic Competence & Physical Appearance
• Our capacity to view ourselves in terms of stable dispositions permits us to combine
separate self-evaluations into a general psychological image of ourselves. This is known as an
overall sense of self-esteem.
• Warm and positive parenting helps in the development of high self-esteem
 SELF-EFFICACY

• People differ in the extent to which they believe they themselves control their life outcomes or the
outcomes are controlled by luck or fate or other situational factors, e.g. passing an examination.
• A person who believes that s/he has the ability or behaviours required by a particular situation
demonstrates high self-efficacy.
• The notion of self-efficacy is based on Bandura’s social learning theory.
• People’s expectations of mastery or achievement and their convictions about their own effectiveness
also determine the types of behaviour in which they would engage, as also the amount of risk they
would undertake.
• A strong sense of self-efficacy allows people to select, influence, and even construct the circumstances
of their own life.
• Self-efficacy can be developed.
• Our society, our parents and our own positive experiences can help in the development of a strong
sense of self-efficacy by presenting positive models during the formative years of children.
 SELF-REGULATION

• Self-regulation refers to our ability to organise and monitor our own behaviour.
• People, who are able to change their behaviour according to the demands of the external
environment, are high on self-monitoring.
• Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control. Self-control plays a
key role in the fulfilment of long-term goals.
• TECHNIQUES OF SELF-CONTROL:
• Observation of own behavior- Provides us with necessary information that may be used
to change, modify, or strengthen certain aspects of self.
• Self-instruction- Instruct ourselves to do something and behave the way we want to.
• Self-reinforcement- Involves rewarding behaviours that have pleasant outcomes.
CULTURE AND SELF
 CONCEPT OF PERSONALITY
• The literal meaning of personality is derived from the Latin word persona.
• Persona= Mask
• Personality Refers to our characteristic ways of responding to individuals and situations.
• Personality refers to unique and relatively stable qualities that characterize an individual’s
behaviour across different situations over a period of time.
• Personality is characterised by the following features:
1. It has both physical and psychological components.
2. Its expression in terms of behaviour is fairly unique in a given individual.
3. Its main features do not easily change with time.
4. It is dynamic in the sense that some of its features may change due to internal or external
situational demands.
 PERSONALITY-RELATED TERMS

• Temperament: Biologically based characteristic way of reacting.

• Trait: Stable, persistent and specific way of behaving.
• Disposition: Tendency of a person to react to a given situation in a particular way.
• Character: The overall pattern of regularly occurring behaviour.
• Habit: Over learned modes of behaving.
• Values: Goals and ideals that are considered important and worthwhile to achieve.
 APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
1. Type Approach
2. Trait Approach
3. Psychodynamic Approach
4. Post-Freudian Approaches
5. Behavioural Approach
6. Cultural Approach
7. Humanistic Approach
 I. TYPE APPROACHES
• The type approaches attempts to comprehend human personality by examining certain
broad patterns in the observe behavioural characteristics of individuals.
• The Greek physician Hippocrates had proposed a typology of personality based on fluid or
humour.
• Sanguine (Pleasure-seeking And Sociable)
• Choleric (Ambitious And Leader-like)
• Melancholic (Analytical And Quiet)
• Phlegmatic (Relaxed And Peaceful)

CHOLERIC MELANCHOLIC SANGUINE PHLEGMATIC

I. TYPE APPROACHES
• In India also, Charak Samhita, a famous treatise on Ayurveda, classifies people into the
categories of vata, pitta and kapha on the basis of three humoural elements called tridosha.
I. TYPE APPROACHES

The personality types given by Sheldon

Endomorphs are fat, soft and round.

By temperament they are relaxed and
sociable.

Mesomorphs have strong

musculature, are rectangular with a
strong body build. They are energetic
and courageous.

Ectomorphs are thin, long and fragile

in body build. They are brainy, artistic
and introvert.
I. TYPE APPROACHES

• Jung has proposed another important typology by grouping people

into Introverts & Extraverts.
• Introverts are people who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others,
withdraw themselves in the face of emotional conflicts, and are shy.
• Extraverts 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.
TYPE-A AND TYPE-B PERSONALITIES
• Friedman and Rosenman have classified individuals into Type-A and Type-B personalities
• 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.
• Such people find it difficult to slow down and relax. People with Type-A personality are more
susceptible to problems like hypertension and coronary heart disease (CHD).
• The risk of developing CHD with Type-A personality is sometimes even greater than the risks
caused by high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, or smoking.
• TYPE-B PERSONALITY
• The absence of Type-A traits
TYPE C & TYPE D PERSONALITY

• Morris has suggested a Type-C personality, which is prone to cancer.

Individuals characterized by this personality are cooperative,
unassertive and patient.
• They suppress their negative emotions (e.g., anger), and show
compliance to authority.
• Type-D personality has been suggested, which is characterised by
proneness to depression.
CRITICISMS OF THE TYPE APPROACH

• Personality typologies are usually very appealing, but are too

simplistic.
• Human behaviour is highly complex and variable.
• Assigning people to a particular personality type is difficult.
• People do not fit into such simple categorisation schemes so neatly.
II. TRAIT APPROACHES

• A trait is considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one

individual differs from another.
• (a) traits are relatively stable over time
• (b) they are generally consistent across situations
• (c) their strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading to individual
differences in personality.
 II. TRAIT APPROACHES

• The Trait Approaches are:

1. Allport’s Trait Theory

2. Cattell: Personality Factors
3. Eysenck’s Theory
4. Five-Factor Model of Personality
ALLPORT’S TRAIT THEORY
• Gordon Allport proposed that individuals possess a number of traits, which are dynamic in
nature.
• They determine behaviour in such a manner that an individual approaches different
situations with similar plans.
• CARDINAL TRAITS are highly generalised dispositions. They indicate the goal around which
a person’s entire life seems to revolve. Eg: Gandhi, Harishchander, Hitler
• Less pervasive in effect, but still quite generalised dispositions, are called CENTRAL TRAITS.
Eg: Calm, Shy, Aggressive
• The least generalised characteristics of a person are called SECONDARY TRAITS. Eg:
Likes/Dislikes
• Allport considered traits more like intervening variables that occur between the stimulus
situation and response of the person.
CATTELL: PERSONALITY FACTORS
• Raymond Cattell tried to identify the primary traits from a
huge array of descriptive adjectives found in language.
• He applied a statistical technique, called factor analysis, to
discover the common structures.
• He found 16 primary or source traits.
• The source traits are stable, and are considered as the
building blocks of personality.
• Besides these, there are also a number of surface traits that
result out of the interaction of source traits.
• Cattell described the source traits in terms of opposing
tendencies.
• He developed a test, called Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16PF), for the assessment of personality.
EYSENCK’S THEORY

• H.J. Eysenck proposed that personality could be reduced into two broad dimensions. These are
biologically and genetically based. Each dimension subsumes a number of specific traits.
(1) Neuroticism Vs. Emotional Stability : It refers to the degree to which people have control
over their feelings. Neurotics are anxious, moody, touchy, restless and quickly lose control. At
the other extreme lie people who are calm, even tempered, reliable and remain under control.
(2) Extraversion vs. introversion : It refers to the degree to which people are socially outgoing or
socially withdrawn. At one extreme are those who are active, gregarious, impulsive and thrill
seeking. At the other extreme are people who are passive, quiet, cautious and reserved.
• Psychoticism vs. Sociability
• Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is the test which is used for studying these dimensions of
personality.
FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY- THE
BIG 5
• Paul Costa and Robert McCrae
1. OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE : Those who score high on this factor are imaginative, curious, open to new ideas,
and interested in cultural pursuits. In contrast, those who score low are rigid.
2. CONSCIENTIOUSNESS : Those who score high on this factor are achievement-oriented, dependable, responsible,
prudent, hardworking and self-controlled. On the opposite are people who are impulsive.
3. EXTRAVERSION : It characterises people who are socially active, assertive, outgoing, talkative, and fun loving.
On its opposite are people who are shy.
4. AGREEABLENESS : This factor characterises people who are helpful, co-operative, friendly, caring, and
nurturing. On the opposite are people who are hostile and self-centered.
5. NEUROTICISM : People who score high on this factor are emotionally unstable, anxious, worried, fearful,
distressed, irritable and hypertensive. On the opposite side are people who are well adjusted.
5.
III. PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

• Levels of Consciousness
• THREE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS
• The first level is conscious, which includes the thoughts,
feelings and actions of which people are aware.
• The second level is preconscious, which includes mental
activity of which people may become aware only if they
attend to it closely.
• The third level is unconscious, which include mental activity
that people are unaware of.
THE UNCONSCIOUS
• The unconscious is a reservoir of instinctive or animal drives.
• It also stores all ideas and wishes that are concealed from conscious awareness, perhaps,
because they lead to psychological conflicts.
• Most of these arise from sexual desires which cannot be expressed openly and therefore are
repressed.
• People constantly struggle to find either some socially acceptable ways to express
unconscious impulses, or to keep those impulses away from being expressed.
• Unsuccessful resolution of conflicts results in abnormal behaviour.
• Analysis of forgetting, mispronunciations, jokes and dreams provide us with a means to
approach the unconscious.
• Freud developed a therapeutic procedure, called psychoanalysis.
• The basic goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring therepressed unconscious materials to
consciousness, thereby helping people to live in a more self-aware and integrated manner.
ID

• Id : It is the source of a person’s instinctual energy.

• It deals with immediate gratification of primitive needs, sexual desires
and aggressive impulses.
• It works on the pleasure principle, which assumes that people seek
pleasure and try to avoid pain.
• Freud considered much of a person’s instinctual energy to be sexual,
and the rest as aggressive. Id does not care for moral values, society, or
other individuals.
STRUCTURE OF PERSONALITY
 EGO

• It grows out of id, and seeks to satisfy an individual’s instinctual needs in accordance with
reality.
• It works by the reality principle, and often directs the id towards more appropriate ways of
behaving.
• For example, the id of a boy, who wants an ice-cream cone, tells him to grab the cone and
eat it.
• His ego tells him that if he grabs the cone without asking, he may be punished.
• Working on the reality principle, the boy knows that the best way to achieve gratification is
to ask for permission to eat the cone.
• Thus, while the id is demanding, unrealistic and works according to pleasure principle, the
ego is patient, reasonable, and works by the reality principle.
SUPEREGO

• Superego : The best way to characterise the superego is to think of it as the

moral branch of mental functioning.
• The superego tells the id and the ego whether gratification in a particular
instance is ethical.
• It helps control the id by internalising the parental authority through the
process of socialisation.
• For example, if a boy sees and wants an icecream cone and asks his mother for
it, his superego will indicate that his behavior is morally correct.
• This approach towards obtaining the ice-cream will not create guilt, fear or
anxiety in the boy.
• Thus, in terms of individual functioning Freud thought of the unconscious as
being composed of three competing forces.
• In some people, the id is stronger than the superego; in others, it is the
superego.
• The relative strength of the id, ego and superego determines each person’s
stability.
• Freud also assumed that id is energised by two instinctual forces, called life
instinct and death instinct.
• He paid less attention to the death instinct and focused more on the life (or
sexual) instinct.
• The instinctual life force that energises the id is called libido. It works on the
pleasure principle, and seeks immediate gratification.
EGO DEFENCE MECHANISMS

• According to Freud, much of human behaviour reflects an attempt to deal with

or escape from anxiety.
• Thus, how the ego deals with anxiety largely determines how people behave.
• Freud believed that people avoid anxiety mainly by developing defence
mechanisms that try to defend the ego against the awareness of the instinctual
needs.
• Thus, defence mechanism is a way of reducing anxiety by distorting reality.
• Although some defence against anxiety is normal and adaptive, people who use
these mechanisms to such an extent that reality is truly distorted develop
various forms of maladjustment.
EGO DEFENSE MECHANISMS
• REPRESSION

• PROJECTION

• DENIAL

• REACTION
FORMATION

• RATIONALISATION
STAGES OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT
ORAL STAGE

• A newborn’s instincts are focused on the mouth.

• This is the infant’s primary pleasure seeking centre. It is through the mouth
that the baby obtains food that reduces hunger.
• The infant achieves oral gratification through feeding, thumb sucking, biting
and babbling.
• It is during these early months that people’s basic feelings about the world
are established.
• Thus, for Freud, an adult who considers the world a bitter place probably had
difficulty during the oral stage of development.
ANAL STAGE

• It is found that around ages two and three the child learns to respond to some
of the demands of the society.
• One of the principal demands made by parents is that the child learns to
control the bodily functions of urination and defecation.
• Most children at this age experience pleasure in moving their bowels.
• The anal area of the body becomes the focus of certain pleasurable feelings.
• This 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.
PHALLIC STAGE
• This stage focuses on the genitals.
• At around ages four and five children begin to realise the differences between males and
females.
• They become aware of sexuality and the sexual relationship between their parents.
• During this stage, 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 (Oedipus was a Greek king who unknowingly killed his father and then married
his mother).
• A major developmental achievement of this stage is the resolution of the Oedipus complex.
• This takes place by accepting his father’s relationship with his mother, and modelling his own
behaviour after his father.
PHALLIC STAGE

• For girls, the Oedipus complex (called the Electra Complex after Electra, a Greek character,
who induced her brother to kill their mother) follows a slightly different course.
• By attaching her love to the father a girl tries to symbolically marry him and raise a family.
• When she realises that this is unlikely, she begins to identify with her mother and copy her
behaviour as a means of getting (or, sharing in) her father’s affection.
• The critical component in resolving the Oedipus complex is the development of identification
with the same sex parents.
• 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.
LATENCY STAGE & GENITAL STAGE

LATENCY STAGE
•This stage lasts from about seven years until puberty.
•During this period, the child continues to grow physically, but sexual urges are relatively inactive.
•Much of a child’s energy is channelled into social or achievement related activities.
GENITAL STAGE
•During this stage, the person attains maturity in psychosexual development.
•The sexuality, fears and repressed feelings of earlier stages are once again exhibited.
•People learn to deal with members of the opposite sex in a socially and sexually mature way.
•However, if the journey towards this stage is marked by excessive stress or over-indulgence, it may cause
fixation to an earlier stage of development.
PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENT

Freud’s theory also postulates that as children proceed from one stage to another
stage of development, they seem to adjust their view of the world.

• FIXATION- Failure of a child to pass successfully through a stage leads to fixation

to that stage. In this situation, the child’s development gets arrested at an earlier
stage.

•REGRESSION – Takes a person back to an earlier stage. Regression occurs when a

person’s resolution of problems at any stage of development is less than
adequate. In this situation, people display behaviours typical of a less mature
stage of development.
IV. POST-FREUDIAN APPROACHES

• Neo-analytic, or Post- Freudian in order to differentiate their work

from Freud’s.
• Less prominent roles to sexual and aggressive tendencies of the id and
expansion of the concept of ego.
• The human qualities of creativity, competence, and problem solving
abilities are emphasized.
 NEO-FREUDIANS

1. Carl Jung: Aims and Aspirations

2. Karen Horney: Optimism

3. Alfred Adler: Lifestyle & Social Interest

4. Erich Fromm: Human Concerns

5. Erik Erikson: Search for Identity

CARL JUNG: AIMS & ASPIRATIONS
• Human beings guided as much by aims and aspirations
• Analytical Psychology - The basic assumption of his theory is that personality consists of
competing forces and structures within the individual (that must be balanced) rather than
between the individual and the demands of society, or between the individual and reality.
• Collective Unconscious consisting of archetypes or primordial images.
• These are not individually acquired, but are inherited. The God or the Mother Earth is a good
example of archetypes.
• They are found in myths, dreams and arts of all mankind.
• Jung held that the self strives for unity and oneness.
• According to him, for achieving unity and wholeness, a person must become increasingly
aware of the wisdom available in one’s personal and collective unconscious, and must learn to
live in harmony with it.
KAREN HORNEY : OPTIMISM
• A more optimistic view of human life with emphasis on human growth and self-actualisation.
• Horney’s major contribution lies in her challenge to Freud’s treatment of women as inferior.
• According to her, each sex has attributes to be admired by the other, and neither sex can be viewed as
superior or inferior.
• She countered that women were more likely to be affected by social and cultural factors than by
biological factors.
• She argued that psychological disorders were caused by disturbed interpersonal relationship during
childhood.
• When parents’ behaviour toward a child is indifferent, discouraging, and erratic, the child feels
insecure and a feeling called basic anxiety results.
• Deep resentment toward parents or basic hostility occurs due to this anxiety.
• By showing excessive dominance or indifference, or by providing too much or too little approval,
parents can generate among children feelings of isolation and helplessness which interfere with their
healthy development.
ALFRED ADLER: LIFESTYLE & SOCIAL INTEREST
• Adler’s theory is known as INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY.
• His basic assumption is that human behaviour is purposeful and goal directed.
• Each one of us has the capacity to choose and create.
• Our personal goals are the sources of our motivation.
• The goals that provide us with security and help us in overcoming the feelings
of inadequacy are important in our personality development.
• In Adler’s view, every individual suffers from the feelings of inadequacy and
guilt, i.e. inferiority complex, which arise from childhood.
• Overcoming this complex is essential for optimal personality development.
ERICH FROMM : THE HUMAN CONCERNS
• Fromm developed his theory from a social orientation.
• He viewed human beings as basically social beings who could be understood in terms of their
relationship with others.
• He argued that psychological qualities such as growth and realisation of potentials resulted
from a desire for freedom, and striving for justice and truth.
• Fromm holds that character traits (personality) develop from our experiences with other
individuals.
• 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.
• His work recognises the value of positive qualities, such as tenderness and love in personality
development.
ERIK ERIKSON : SEARCH FOR IDENTITY

• Erikson’s theory lays stress on rational, conscious ego processes in

personality development.
• In his theory, development is viewed as a lifelong process, and ego
identity is granted a central place in this process.
• His concept of identity crisis of adolescent age has drawn considerable
attention.
• Erikson argues that young people must generate for themselves a
central perspective and a direction that can give them a meaningful
sense of unity and purpose.
CRITICISMS OF PSYCHODYNAMIC
THEORY

(1) The theories are largely based on case studies; they lack a rigorous scientific
basis.
(2) They use small and atypical individuals as samples for advancing
generalisations.
(3) The concepts are not properly defined, and it is difficult to submit them to
scientific testing.
(4) Freud has used males as the prototype of all human personality development.
He overlooked female experiences and perspectives.
V. BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH
• This approach does not give importance to the internal dynamics of behaviour.
• Behaviourists believe in data, which they feel are definable, observable, and
measurable.
• Personality can be best understood as the response of an individual to the
environment.
• They see the development simply as a change in response characteristics, i.e. a person
learns new behaviours in response to new environments and stimuli.
• the structural unit of personality is the response. Each response is a behaviour, which is
emitted to satisfy a specific need.
• Classical conditioning (Pavlov), instrumental conditioning (Skinner), and observational
learning (Bandura) view learning and maintenance of behaviour from different angles.
VI. CULTURAL APPROACH
• In relation to the features of ecological and cultural environment.
• A group’s ‘economic maintenance system’ plays a vital role in the origin of cultural and behavioural
variations.
• 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.
• Taken together these elements constitute a child’s overall learning environment.
• Rituals, ceremonies, religious practices, arts, recreational activities, games and play are the means
through which people’s personality gets projected in a culture.
• People develop various personality (behavioural) qualities in an attempt to adapt to the ecological and
cultural features of a group’s life.
• Thus, the cultural approach considers personality as an adaptation of individuals or groups to the
demands of their ecology and culture.
VII. HUMANISTIC APPROACH
• Carl Rogers & Abraham Maslow’s reaction to Freud
• The most important idea proposed by Rogers is that of a Fully
Functioning Person.
• He believes that fulfilment is the motivating force for personality
development.
• People try to express their capabilities, potentials and talents to the
fullest extent possible.
• There is an inborn tendency among persons that directs them to
actualise their inherited nature.
CARL ROGERS
• Two basic assumptions about human behaviour:
1. Behaviour is goal-directed and worthwhile.
2. People (who are innately good) will almost always choose adaptive, self-actualising behaviour.
• The theory assumes that people are constantly engaged in the process of actualising their true self.
• self and ideal self- Correspondence vs. Discrepancy
• People have a tendency to maximise self-concept through self-actualisation. In this process, the self grows, expands
and becomes more social.
• Personality development as a continuous process. It involves learning to evaluate oneself and mastering the process of
self-actualisation.
• The role of social influences in the development of self-concept. When social conditions are positive, the self-concept
and self-esteem are high. In contrast, when the conditions are negative, the self-concept and self-esteem are low.
• 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.
• Unconditional Positive Regard, Non-Judgmental Attitude, Empathy- Client Centered Therapy
ABRAHAM MASLOW
• Maslow had an optimistic and positive view of man who has the potentialities for love, joy and
to do creative work.
• Human beings are considered free to shape their lives and to self-actualise.
• Self-actualisation becomes possible by analysing the motivations that govern our life.
• We know that biological, security, and belongingness needs (called survival needs) are
commonly found among animals and human beings.
• Thus, an individual’s sole concern with the satisfaction of these needs reduces her/ him to the
level of animals.
• The real journey of human life begins with the pursuit of self-esteem and self-actualisation
needs.
• The humanistic approach emphasises the significance of positive aspects of life.
BEING HEALTHY

1. They become aware of themselves, their feelings, and their limits;

accept themselves, and what they make of their lives as their own
responsibility; have ‘the courage to be’.
2. They experience the “here-and-now”; are not trapped.
3. They do not live in the past or dwell in the future through anxious
expectations and distorted defences.
 ASSESSMENT OF PERSONALITY

• A formal effort aimed at understanding personality of an individual is termed as

Personality Assessment.
• Assessment refers to the procedures used to evaluate or differentiate people on
the basis of certain characteristics.

• GOAL- To understand and predict behaviour with minimum error and maximum
accuracy.

• USES- Understanding, Diagnosis, Training, Placement, Counselling, etc.

TECHNIQUES IN ASSESSMENT

• Psychometric Tests
• Self-Report Measures
• Projective Techniques
• Behavioural Analysis
SELF-REPORT MEASURES

• By asking her/him about herself/himself.

• Fairly structured measures, based on theory.
• Require subjects to give verbal responses using some kind of rating scale.
• Subjects objectively reports her/his own feelings with respect to various items.
• The responses are accepted at their face value.
• They are scored in quantitative terms and interpreted on the basis of norms developed for
the test.
• Examples- MMPI, EPQ, 16PF.
THE MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC
PERSONALITY
INVENTORY (MMPI)

• By Hathaway and McKinley

• Revised version is available as
MMPI-2.
• It consists of 567 statements. The
subject has to judge each
statement as ‘true’ or ‘false’ for
her/ him.
• Indian Adaptation- Jodhpur
Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(JMPI) by Mallick and Joshi.
EYSENCK PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE (EPQ)

• The EPQ was designed to assess

the personality traits of
psychoticism, extraversion,
neuroticism, and social
desirability.

• Questions- 100 items using a

yes/no format.
SIXTEEN PERSONALITY FACTOR QUESTIONNAIRE
(16 PF)
• 16PF Fifth Edition contains 185 multiple-choice items
• Some sample statements in 16 PF:
 Are you always open and honest about your feelings?
 Do you think that most people are more aggressive and self-confident than you are?
 Would you wish that you were more persuasive?
 Do your friends sometimes say about you that you are a somewhat self-important person?
 Do you find that you often worry about little things?

• It has been found extremely useful in career guidance, vocational exploration,

and occupational testing.
CRITICISMS OF SELF- REPORT MEASURES

• Social Desirability - Tendency on the part of the respondent to

endorse items in a socially desirable manner.
• Acquiescence - Tendency of the subject to agree with
items/questions irrespective of their contents. It often appears in
the form of saying ‘yes’ to items. These tendencies render the
assessment of personality less reliable.
PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

• Direct Vs. Indirect Methods…

• Theoretical base- psychoanalysis…
• Projective techniques were developed to assess unconscious motives and
feelings.
• 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.
SIMILARITIES IN PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

(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 an 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.

(6) They generally require qualitative analyses

THE RORSCHACH INKBLOT TEST
• By Hermann Rorschach
• Test consists of 10 inkblots
• 5 in black and white
• 2 with some red ink
• 3 in some pastel colours
• The cards are administered individually in
two phases:
• Performance proper, the subjects are shown the
cards and are asked to tell what they see in each
of them.
• Inquiry, a detailed report of the response such as
where, how, and on what basis was a particular
response made.
THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST (TAT)
• By Morgan and Murray
• The test consists of 30 black and white picture
cards and one blank card.
• The cards are presented one at a time.
• The subject is asked to tell a story describing the
situation presented.
• What led up to the situation? what is happening
at the moment? what will happen in the future?
What the characters are feeling and thinking?
• A standard procedure is available for scoring TAT
responses.
• Uma Chaudhury’s Indian adaptation of TAT.
ROSENZWEIG’S PICTURE-FRUSTRATION STUDY
(P-F STUDY)
• To assess how people express aggression in the face of a frustrating situation.
• 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.
• Attempt is to examine whether the focus on:
• the frustrating object
• on protection of the frustrated person
• on constructive solution of the problem
• The direction of aggression may be towards the :
• Environment
• towards oneself
• may be tuned off in an attempt to gloss over or evade the situation.
• Pareek has adapted this test for use with the Indian population.
SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST
• This test makes use of a number of incomplete sentences.
• The starting part of the sentence is first presented and the subject has to provide an ending to
the sentence.
• It is held that the type of endings used by the subjects reflect their attitudes, motivation and
conflicts.
• The test provides subjects with several opportunities to reveal their underlying unconscious
motivations.
• Examples:
1.My father——————————————
2. My greatest fear is —————————
3. The best thing about my mother is ——————————
4. I am proud of ————————————————————
DRAW-A-PERSON TEST

Draw a person on a sheet Make a story about the

Draw the figure of an opposite
of paper. person as if s/he was a
sex person.
character in a novel or play.

Interpretations are as follows:

•Omission of facial features suggests that the person tries to evade a highly
conflict-ridden interpersonal relationship.

•Graphic emphasis on the neck suggests lack of control over impulses.

•Disproportionately large head suggests organic brain disease and

preoccupation with headaches.
EVALUATION OF PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

• The analysis of personality with the help of projective techniques

appears fairly interesting.
• It helps us to understand unconscious motives, deep-rooted conflicts,
and emotional complexes of an individual.
• However, the interpretation of the responses requires sophisticated
skills and specialized training.
• There are problems associated with the reliability of scoring and
validity of interpretations.
BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS

• A person’s behaviour in a variety of situations can provide us with meaningful information

about her/his personality.

• Interview - Diagnostic interviewing, Structured vs Unstructured

• Observation - Sophisticated procedure that cannot be carried out by untrained people

LIMITATIONS OF INTERVIEW & OBSERVATIONS:

(1) Professional training required for collection of useful data through these methods is quite demanding and time
consuming.
(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. As a stranger, the observer may influence the behaviour of
the person being observed and thus not obtain good data.
BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS
• Ratings
• 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
• Categories in terms of their behavioural qualities
LIMITATIONS: Halo Effect, Middle Category Bias, Extreme Response Bias.

• Nomination
• Obtaining peer assessment
• 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.
• Nominations thus received may be analysed to understand the personality and behavioural qualities of
the person.
LIMITATIONS: Personal Biases.
BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS

• Situational tests
• Situational stress test, a person to perform a given task with other persons
who are instructed to be non-cooperative and interfering.
• Kind of role playing
• Verbal report is also obtained on what s/he was asked to do.
• The situation may be realistic one, or it may be created through a video play