1. Warm-up
Why would it be important for therapists and clinicians to have a well developed view of personality theory to do their job well?

2. Today we will…
Define personality and examine the different personality theories

3. What is Personality??? Contemporary theory
Each person attempts to control and predict events
We continually evaluate our experiences and use our interpretations of reality to understand and control the world around us.
According to this viewpoint, each of us has our own theory of human personality, because people form a major part of the reality that we attempt to understand and control.

4. What is your personal theory of personality???
Please complete part I of the worksheet, A Personal Appraisal.
Think about each concept/item and check the three items that are most important regarding your view of human personality.
Next, explain why you chose the three items that you checked.

5. Part III
Each of the concepts are associated with one of the five major approaches to personality…
psychoanalytic (childhood experiences, unconscious motives, sexual instincts);
humanistic (conscious awareness, the self, subjective feelings);
cognitive (interpretations of experience, organization of reality, expectations);
trait (temperament, abilities, enduring characteristics);
and learning (external environment, rewards and punishments, observable behavior).

6. Summary…
Working in your groups, please discuss and evaluate the questions to help you formulate your own opinion on personality development.
What is personality?
What is a personality theory?
Why have psychologists proposed so many different personality theories?
Is one theory correct and the others wrong?
What functions are served by personality theories in psychology?
What functions are served by personal theories of human behavior? Are there good reasons why each of us should evaluate our own view of human personality?