P SYCHOLOGY Overview of Personality: Term 3 Lesson 1

A GENDA 1. What is personality? 2. Personality Terminologies 3. What are personality components? 4. Personality Theories 5. Classifying Personality traits 6. Traits, consistency & situations

W HAT IS PERSONALITY ? The word personality itself stems from the Latin word persona, which referred to a theatrical mask work by performers in order to either project different roles or disguise their identities. A brief definition would be that personality is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that make a person unique as well as hereditary aspects like, sensitivity, irritability or mood. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life.

S OME PERSONALITY TERMINOLOGIES Personality: is a group of traits that you were born with. Character: the term implies that a person has been evaluated not just described. the attitudes and beliefs that you have toward your life, work, family, and community. Character traits may be positive, negative, or somewhere in between. There is a direct link between positive character traits and a happy and successful life. Negative character traits that have been “strongly and long” ingrained usually do cause conflict at some point. Traits: special qualities that a person shows in most situations. E.g.: shy, sensitive, intelligent, creative…etc. When the personal traits are identified the future behavior can be predicted (outgoing people are mostly predicted to be sociable) Type: refers to people who have several traits in common, E.g. of informal types of personalities: the geek type, the athletic, the motherly, playboy, etc. If I ask you to list each of those informal types traits, you’d definitely agree on common traits for each.

S OME PERSONALITY TERMINOLOGIES Temperament usually refers to those aspects of psychological individuality that are present at birth or at least very early on in child development, are related to emotional expression, and are presumed to have a biological basis... Character, on the other hand, usually refers to those personal attributes that are relevant to moral conduct, self-mastery, will-power, and integrity."

W HAT ARE PERSONALITY COMPONENTS ? So what exactly makes up a personality? traits and patterns of thought and emotion make up an important part, plus some of the other fundamental characteristics of personality include: Consistency - There is generally a recognizable order and regularity to behaviors. Essentially, people act in the same ways or similar ways in a variety of situations. Psychological and physiological - Personality is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs. It impacts behaviors and actions - Personality does not just influence how we move and respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways. Multiple expressions - Personality is displayed in more than just behavior. It can also be seen in our thoughts, feelings, close relationships and other.

P ERSONALITY THEORIES There are a number of different theories about how personality develops. Different schools of thought in psychology influence many of these theories. Some of these major perspectives on personality include: 1. Trait theories viewed personality as the result of internal characteristics that are genetically based. 2. Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud, minded with internal conflicts & struggles and emphasize the influence of the unconscious on personality. Psychodynamic theories include Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development. 3. Behavioral theories suggest that personality is a result of interaction between the individual and the environment (impact on learning). Behavioral theorists study observable and measurable behaviors, Behavioral theorists include B. F. Skinner and John B. Watson. 4. Social learning theories attribute differences in personality to socialization, expectations & mental process. 5. Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free will and individual experience in the development of personality (subjective experience). Humanist theorists include Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.

P ERSONALITY TYPES The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. While there is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension. However, these five categories are usually described as follows: Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional expressiveness. Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes such as trust, selflessness, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors. Conscientiousness (precision): Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of details. Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness. Openness: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of interests.

T HE BIG FIVE CONCEPT The Big Five personality traits are five broad domains or dimensions of personality that are used to describe human personality. The Big Five model is able to account for different traits in personality without overlapping. It is important to note that each of the five personality factors represents a range between two extremes, for example, extraversion represents a continuum between extreme extraversion and extreme introversion. In the real world, most people lie somewhere in between the two polar ends of each dimension.

C LASSIFYING P ERSONALITY TRAITS Classified by Allport: 1. Common traits: shared by most members of a particular culture. Al Sharkia people are generous, USA people are highly competitive. 2. Individual traits: define a person’s unique individual qualities. Same but on individual level; John in highly organized. 3. Cardinal traits: basic trait that all personal activities relate to. Mother Teresa’s compassion affected all her life activities. 4. Central traits: they characterize the individual’s personality. Those are main traits of personality where you can easily identify them as they build a person’s character, e.g.: Sarah is dominant, sociable, cheerful, intelligent & optimistic. 5. Secondary traits: inconsistent or relatively superficial, like food preferences, political opinions, musical taste, colors preference, etc. Classified by Cattell: 1. Surface traits: visible or observable traits of one’s personality. Surface traits are those traits that we use in casual conversation like he's irritable, he's cranky, or she's nice, or she's friendly. 2. Source traits: basic underlying traits; each source trait is reflected in a number of surface traits. source traits is that emotionality is a personality trait that may refer to such behaviors like calmness, excitability, and jitteriness. Factor Analysis: a statistical technique used to correlate multiple measurements and identify general underlying factors. Trait profile: A Graph of the Scores obtained on several personality tests

T RAITS, CONSISTENCY & SITUATIONS Do we inherit personality or is personality only affected by external circumstances? Trait situation interaction: The influence that external settings or circumstances have on expression of personality traits. E.g.: in a party we act louder and happier than in a funeral. Behavioral genetics: The study of inherited behavioral traits & tendencies. E.g.: intelligence, mental disorders, temperament is part of hereditary characters.

C LASS WORK Discussion

H OMEWORK D UE DATE : 16 TH OF F EB, D EADLINE : 16 TH OF F EB. Define Personality, Personality traits What are the major 5 personality perspectives of personality theories? What are the big 5 key dimensions of personality? What are the two classifications of personality traits?