Personality

Questions How can we describe personality? How do we measure personality? What causes personality?

How Can We Describe Personality? Personality traits are consistent behavioral tendencies that differ across people. Can we describe most of the variation in personality with a small number of traits?

How Can We Describe Personality? “The Big Five” Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism

How Can We Describe Personality? The “Big Five” can be measured with high reliability and validity. Useful for predicting performance Person-situation interaction

How Do We Measure Personality? Objective Self-Report Inventories – MMPI-2 – NEO-PI R Projective Tests – Rorschach – Thematic Apperception Test

How Do We Measure Personality? MMPI-2 – 567 items (Example: I believe I am being plotted against) – 10 trait scales (Example: paranoia) NEO PI-R – 240 items (Example: I get angry sometimes) – 5 trait scales, each with multiple facets

Misconception Alert! It is not possible to tell whether a test is reliable and valid by just looking at it.

What Causes Personality? Psychodynamic Perspective Behaviorist Perspective Humanistic Perspective

What Causes Personality? Psychodynamic approaches emphasize influences of the unconscious mind Freud: interaction of three components – Id – Ego – Superego

What Causes Personality? Other Psychodynamic Theories Jung – personal unconscious – collective unconscious Adler – striving for superiority – compensation

What Causes Personality? Behaviorist Perspective – focus on observable behaviors Skinner – response tendencies – reinforcement history Bandura – observational learning – self-efficacy

What Causes Personality? Humanistic Perspective – focus on potential for growth Rogers – self-concept – incongruence Maslow – self-actualization – hierarchy of needs