1. Introduction to Personality Theory

2. I. What is meant by personality??
What do you think???

3. Personality:
The underlying causes within the person of individual behavior & experience.
A consistent pattern of behavior across the life-span.

4. Three questions in personality
1. How can personality be described?
2. How can we understand personality dynamics? (contextual & cultural)
3. How does personality develop?

5. II. Describing personality
A. Differences between people:
Approaches to describing individual differences:
--Type approach
--Trait approach
--Factors approach

6. 1. Type approach
-personality appears in a limited # of distinct categories.
According to this view, a person will belong to only one category.
A small number of categories are used to describe everyone.
Are qualitative!!!

7. Types: examples Political – “liberals” & “conservatives”
Jung– “introverts” & “extroverts”
May be useful on a simple level of analysis.

8. 2. Trait approach:
Traits are characteristics used to distinguish one individual from another (consistent over time).
We can measure how much (from low to high) a person possesses a given trait (shyness, extraversion). Are quantitative!!
There are many traits to describe a single person.

9. 3. Factor approach-
Similar to trait approach, except that factors are broader categories for describe personality than traits.
A small # of factors can be used to describe everyone.

10. B. Nomothetic vs. Idiographic
The nomothetic approach– we compare one person with another.
Groups of individuals are studied relative to others on the same concepts (traits).
Approach measures individual differences among others.

11. The idiographic approach-studies one individual at a time, without making comparisons to others.
This method focuses on an individual case.

12. Consistency of personality
One theory is that an individual’s behavior may be consistent across changing situations.
However, Mischel argued that research failed to support this assumption.
The situation may or may not play a greater role in determining behavior than personality.

13. III. Personality Dynamics
What are mechanisms by which personality is expressed?
Focuses on the motivations underlying why behavior occurs.
Includes individuals’ adaptation or adjustment to the demands of life.

14. A. Adaptation & Adjustment
How we adapt & adjust to situations & events is based on our personality.

15. B. Cognitive Processes:
Our thought processes (cognitions, beliefs) play a large role in the formation & expression of our personality.
Unconscious thoughts or beliefs have an influence on our behaviors (Zajonc’s Mere- Exposure Effect).

16. C. Culture:
When examining the concept of personality development, formation, & expression, cultural influences need to be examined.

17. IV. Personality Development:
Examines the extent to which biological & environmental factors contribute to the formation of our personalities.

18. A. Biological Influences:
To some extent our personalities are determined by genetic factors.
Our temperament as children significantly predicts our behavior in adulthood.
E.g., Some forms of psychopathology are heritable.

19. B. Environmental Influences:
Environmental factors (family, culture) influence our personality development.
E.g., Freud & Skinner both emphasized childhood experiences.

20. V. Theory:
A comprehensive explanation of natural phenomena that leads to accurate predictions.

21. Advantages of theories:
1. Theories allow us to summarize the results of many research studies & integrate numerous principles of learning.
2. Theories provide starting points for conducting new research.
3. Theories offer us a way for describing why things happen.

22. Disadvantages of Theories:
1. No theory explains all that is known about a given phenomenon.
2. Theories affect what new information is published, biasing the knowledge we have about personality.

23. Judging Scientific Theories
1. Testability
2. Simplicity
3. Generality
4. Fruitfullness
5. Agreement with the data

24. Scientific concepts: 1. Operational Definitions:
We describe a concept by defining the operations used to measure something.
(e.g., memory may be defined by the # of items recalled on a memory test).

25. 2. Theoretical Constructs:
--The concepts of a theory
Traits (intelligence, athleticism) are considered theoretical constructs.
These need to be operationally defined to be examined in research.