HOW DIFFERENT PERSONALITY THEORIES INTERPRET HUMAN DIFFERENCES?

Personality theory is a field of study to explain how we human beings think, feel and do i n a m or e s ci ent i fi c w a y t o r ec o gni z e p at t e rn s o f hum a n be ha vi o r . Apparently there are six options of the processes of thinking, feeling and doing before acting, based on the Psychodynamic, Behaviorism, Cognitive, Humanistic and Evolutionary schools of thought to explain human behavior. They are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Do, think and feel Do, feel and think Feel, think and do Feel, do and think Think, do and feel Think, feel and do

Imagine a scenario where a person sees a snake in the garden, how would the person act and why? OPTION 1 - DO, THINK AND FEEL a. Do I kill the snake. b. Think The snake is dangerous. c. Feel It is bad to kill it. OPTION 2 DO, FEEL AND THINK a. Do I kill the snake. b. Feel It is great to kill it.

c. Think The snake is dangerous.

OPTION 3 - FEEL, THINK AND DO a. Feel I am terrified. b. Think The snake is dangerous. c. Do I flee for my life. OPTION 4 FEEL, DO AND THINK a. Feel I am fearless. b. Do I kill the snake. c. Think The snake is dangerous. OPTION 5 - THINK, DO AND FEEL Scenario 1: a. Think

Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do? If not what should I do? b. Do (Dangerous snake)

Run away. c. Feel I am scared of poisonous snakes

Scenario 2: a. Think

Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do? If not what should I do? the thinking process looks at the many possibilities of handling the snake a trait found in the cluster of traits for dynamic personality - HM b. Do (Harmless snake)

I kill it c.Feel I hate snakes Scenario 3 a. Think Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do? If not what should I do? b. Do I will gently shoo it off c. Feel I love snakes and am happy to leave it free Option 6 THINK, FEEL AND DO a. Think

Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do? If not what should I do? b. Feel I feel relaxed and calm c. Do

I trap it and send it to the zoo

Over the ages, Personality Psychologists have done extensive research trying t o e x p l a i n t h e h o w a n d w h y o f h u m a n d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e s i x processes of thinking, feeling and doing within their theoretical constructs. Taking t h e ab ov e s c en a ri o as a n ex am pl e , P e rs on al i t y P s ych ol o gi st s a r e t r yi n g t o understand: 1. What makes some people think that the snake is dangerous while others think the snake is harmless? 2. Why some people feel calm, relaxed or even excited while others feel terrified and scared when seeing a snake? 3. What makes a person either kill the snake or worship it or scream for help or flee for their life or let it go or catch it and keep it as a pet or send it to the zoo.

1. Psychodynamic theoretical construct (S i g mu n d Fr eu d an d C ar l Jung) Le t u s ex pl o r e t h e t he or i e s of h ow a p e rso n t hi nk s f e el s an d d o e s i n t h e ab ov e scenarios. According to the psychodynamic psychologists, thinking operates at the conscious level of our minds. When this happens, a person may see many possibilities of reacting to the snake in the garden, which explains why a person chooses options 5 and 6. A l t e r n a t i v e l y , t h e p e r s o n m a y h a v e s o m e b a d experiences with snakes in the past and has stored it in the pre-conscious mind which explains why a person is terrified and flees for his life. On seeing the snake the pre-conscious past is energized causing the person to kill it or flees for his life as Options 1 4.
2. Behaviorism Theoretical Construct (Dollard and Miller, Ivan Pahlov, Skinner) Behaviorism theorists posit that our behavior is either conditioned or learned. Conditioning takes place when we are repeatedly reinforced with teachings from stories that the snake is a very poisonous and dangerous reptile or snakes are likeable creatures and some may even consider it godly; and that snakes can be dangerous and harmless depending on its types. Learning takes place by watching and observing others besides our encounters and experiences with snakes. Some may have good experiences while others may have bad experiences with the creature. The encounter with a snake is a stimulus. How we respond depends on our past experiences with snakes which explain option 1 -4 of thinking, feeling and doing process on seeing a snake.

3. Social Cognitive theoretical construct

(Albert Madura, Kurt Lewin, Julian Rotter, Michel) The cognitive theorists help us to understand complex behavior where our behavior pattern varies between situations and across time. In the incident of a snake in the garden they take one step further by putting a gap between stimulus and response theory. The gap enables us to use our intellect to assess the situation where there is a snake in the garden, to generate solutions and anticipate the consequences of each solution before we deal with the snake. By so doing we have choices on how to deal with the snake in the garden explained in options 5 and 6. 4. Humanistic theoretical Construct (Abraham Maslow, Aldefer, Mc Celland, Carl Roger, Sullivan and Murray) The humanistic school of thought explains six options of thinking; feeling and doing by looking at the needs, wants, desires and motives behind how we think, feel and do. On t h i s s c en a ri o, t h e hum an i st t h eo ri st wou l d d eb at e t h at i t i s t h e n e ed fo r survival and security that cause a person to flee for life or kill the snake. It may also be the motive to show off that motivates the person to kill it. The need for growth m a y en ab l e a pe rs on t o d i f fe r en t i at e b et w e en a d an ge r ous and a ha rm l es s snake and take the appropriate action. The need for respecting the rights of animal and to find meanings in life that explains why a person lets the snake go or sends it to the zoo. 5. Evolutionary and Genetic Theoretical Construct The evolutionary theorist posits that the evolution of our behavior has descended from the family tree of a common investor. In other words, our behavior is a function of our genes. The genetic make-up determines our instincts of natural choices in dealing with the snake. These instincts include many reflexes impervious to the influence of learning and experience which explains options 1 - 4 in the encounter with a snake in the garden. 6. The trait Theorists (Allport Gordon, Catell, Goldsberg and Mc Grae) The trait school of thought is not based on any psychological construct. They attempt to predict behavior by the use of factor analysis of the psychological traits under the five adjectival descriptors below: Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism The five adjectival descriptors (OCEAN) are inadequate to include all psychological traits in the lexicon of the dictionary.

In view of the above, interpreting human difference based on one theoretical construct has its limitations. I t i s i m p e r a t i v e t o d e v e l o p a n Integrated Model bas ed o n t he m ul t i p l e t he o re t i ca l constructs for assessing human behavior more accurately. KYKO (Read article What Is KYKO? in www.scribd.com) personality profile integrates the personality concepts of these schools of thought incorporating the needs and deprivation theories to address this issue. To understand KYKO personality profile let us begin by asking why some people are working hard, willing to learn, motivated and are committed to their work while others do otherwise. The difference is that some people work hard to satisfy their innate needs and desires to accomplish some meaningful goals and progress while those who drift around have low priority in working, learning and achieving anything. From the above line of reasoning the Self Actualization dimension is developed and is defined as t h e need, want and desire for growth, achievement, fulfillment and to find meanings in life. From the self-Actualizing Dimension, two types of personalities are identified: 1. Normal Type - Personality with high need, desire or want for growth, achievement, and fulfillment and to find meanings in life. Such a personality is relatively psychologically advantageous and is healthier in their mental and psychological dispositions. 2. Neurotic Type - Personality with low need, desire or want for growth, achievement, and fulfillment and to find meanings in life. Neurotic personality is relatively psychologically handicapped and is unhealthy in their mental and psychological dispositions. Why certain people are ambitious, confident and are determined to take charge while others are soft, permissive and prefer to be led? What makes them that way can be either genetic or due to past experiences with their environment. The old axioms that leaders are born and leaders can be trained or cultivated are partial truths. In fact, our leadership qualities are determined by nature and nurture. Some of us may be brought up by hard-headed overbearing parents who want to take charge of our lives. There are two ways to cope with their upbringing. One is to fight them and get out of their clutches; the other is to accept it. The former gives us the pains, while the latter gives us the pleasures. If our genetic make-up is strong it will reinforce our will to continue fighting, if not it will diminish our will power and destroy our self-esteem. It shapes our need for power, image, recognition and control in our later life. The egocentric dimension which explains the need for power, image, recognition and control is developed from this contention. The Egocentric dimension identifies two types of personalities. They are the 1. 2. Assertive Type Personality with a high need, want and desire for power, image, recognition and to control the environment Submissive Type Personality with a low need, desire and want for power, image, recognition and to control the environment

W hat m ak es so m e p eo pl e c ar i n g, f ri en d l y an d s e nsi t i v e wh i l e ot h e rs a re forbidding, aloof and insensitive? Perhaps, we can explain these differences from our p ast ex pe ri e nc e s s t o re d i n t h e p r e - c ons ci ou s l ev el o f ou r m i n d s . S om e pe opl e h av e a pleasurable past experiencing love, affection and care while others may have a pa i n ful p as t , o ft en b ei n g us ed a nd ab us ed b y u ns c rup ul ous p eo pl e i n t he i r environment. Those who experience pleasures become outgoing and enjoy socializing while those who have a painful past are anti-social, guarded and prefer to do things a l on e . Ou r pa st ex p e ri en c e s i n t e r a ct i n g a nd so ci al i z i n g wi t h al l t ype s o f pe opl e i n t h e e nvi ro nm e nt d e t er m i n e t h e st re n gt hs o f t h e sociocentric dimension defined as the need, desire and want for love, belongingness, companionship, affiliation and social interactions. From the Sociocentric Dimension, two types of personalities are identified. They are: 1. Sociable Type - personality with high need, desire and want for love, belongingness, companionship, affiliation and social interactions. 2. Asocial Type - personality with low need, desire and want for belongingness, companionship, affiliation and social interactions. What makes some people obedient, meticulous and follow rules and regulations while others are not? To explain these differences is to track down their memory lane of their past. When protective and caring parents regulate the behavior of t h ei r ch i l d b y m e an s o f t h e r ul es o f co nd uc t , t h e c hi l d du e t o t h ei r ge ne t i c differences develops three coping mechanisms: a. Accept b. Rebel c. Adapt If a child accepts regulation and feels comfortable, secure and protected, the child is likely to have a high respect for rules and social order. On the contrary, if a child gets pains from living by the rules, the child is likely to rebel, disobey rules and regulations and would struggle to be free from the parental control to do what the childs wants. The Security dimension is developed from this contention defined as the need, wants and desire for safety, order, system, structure and protection. The Security Dimension identifies two types of personalities. They are: 1. Pragmatic Type - personality with high need, desire and want for safety, order, system and protection. 2 . Adventurous Type - p er son al i t y wi t h l o w n e ed , d e si re and w a nt fo r sa f et y, or d er , system and protection.

A chi l d wi t h dom i n a nt ge ne t i c t r ai t r e gu l at ed b y o v er b e ari n g and dom i na nt parents will initially fight back by deliberately disrupting rules and regulations in the childs efforts to be free to behave in his or her own way. The child will gradually learn from the pains of being punished for rebelling against his or her parents. Eventually, the child will learn to adapt to his or her parents idiosyncrasies. This leads to the development of the Manipulative dimension the need to adapt, change , influence and use others for survival and growth. Further to understand the Manipulative is to answer what one would do if one is put in a situation choosing between life and death for ones family? One will try all means or ways to get money or food. One is likely to borrow, beg, steal and even kill to keep oneself and family alive. Alternatively, one will just allow starvation to take ones life and family. The former explains why some people are adaptable and can see many possibilities of wrangling out of a difficult situation while others are rigid and can be drowned in a crisis. It explains the Machiavelli way for surviving -t he end justifies the means How would one react when ones important goals are blocked by o b s t a c l e s a l o n g t h e w a y ? O n e m a y b e c o m e s t r a t e g i c a n d t r y m a n y possibilities to go around the obstacles to achieve ones goals. Alternatively, one will bang ones head struggling with the established way of overcoming them. From the above contentions the manipulative dimension is developed defined as the need, want and desire to adapt, change, influence and use others for survival and growth. From this dimension, two personality types are identified. They are:

1. S t at i c T yp e - personality with low need, want and desire to adapt, influence and change for survival and growth 2. Dynamic Type - personality with high need, want an desire to adapt, influence and change for survival and growth. The combination of the relative strength of each of the five dimensions in a form of a pentagon enables us to interpret patterns of behavior Bernard assigns formulae based on the abbreviations of each personality type in the five dimensions for facilitating the interpretation of KYKO 5-Dimensional Personality Profile. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Normal Type - High Self-Actualizing Dimension - HSA Neurotic Type Low Self Actualizing Dimension LSA Assertive Type High Egocentric Dimension HE Submissive type Low Egocentric Dimension LE Sociable Type High Sociocentric Dimension HSO Asocial Type Low Sociocentric Dimension LSO Pragmatic Type High Security Dimension HSE Adventurous Type Low Security Dimension LSE

9. Dynamic Type - High Manipulative Dimension HM 10. Static Type Low Manipulative Dimension LM Each of the above personality types has a cluster of distinctive traits that can be identified statistically using factor analysis. Bernard posits that our behavior is sensitive to environment differences. According to Sigmund Freud, our personality is shaped through self and interpersonal conflicts and their resolutions when we are young. As such, all of us are abnormal to a certain degree due to the painful past when we experienced psychological pains that trigger a discharge of negative psychic energy and damage the rational component of our minds. Carl Roger posits that a favorable environment helps a person to self-actualize, grow, and become a fully functioning man and a better human being. Bernard concurs with Sigmund Freud that human beings lie on the continuum of normal to abnormal. Normal human beings are relatively healthier psychologically and mentally. He defines a normal human being as a person who behaves rationally in a favorable environment while an abnormal human being b eh av e s i r ra t i o n al l y. Abn o rm al hum a n b e i n gs ar e cl as s i f i e d i nt o t wo t yp e s namely psychotic and neurotic. The psychotic personality suffers from almost a t ot al l os s of r at i on al i t y a nd i s co nfi n ed t o t h e m e nt al as yl um . Th e n eu rot i c personality has a degree of rationality depending on the level of their mental health. Bernard believes that a favorable environment will assist the neurotic personality to selfactualize and become more normal while an unfavorable environment will deactualize a relatively normal personality and make the person more neurotic. Bernard posits that human personality is dynamic and alive. It actualizes and deactualizes with the current and future experiences in our environment. For example: A relatively normal personality can lose his senses if someone attacks his weak points or soft spots. However being relatively mentally healthy, he can restore back to normalcy when the situation returns to normal. A neurotic person can become a more normal person if he leaves an unfavorable environment for a favorable one . Bernard believes that n o t w o p e r s o n a l i t i e s a r e a l i k e e v e n i f t h e y a r e identical twins. T h e y m a y h a v e d i f f e r e n c e s i n t h e i r g e n e t i c m a k e - u p a n d experiences even though they grow up in the same environment. INTERPRETING PERSONALITY PROFILE Human beings are complex homo sapiens. In the past numerous psychometric tests were developed to interpret the patterns of a persons behavior. Some assessments are developed using one or two theoretical constructs while others are devoid of any psychological theories. Interpreting personality based on one or two theoretical concepts is akin to looking at a personality through one or two windows of a persons patterns of behavior. It has its

limitation and is akin to the six blind men of Hindustan trying to guess what an elephant is like. Others lack the psychometric or measurement properties using forced choice and ranking to measure the items of the test. Certain assessment tests are developed with less than 50 items to predict behavior without due regard to the high deviation errors. Some assume that behavior is constant and is not sensitive to the environment. They use quadrants to interpret personality using adjectival descriptors. Almost all the available instruments put a number on the typology of human personalities. Human beings are not that simple that we can slot them into 16 and 32 pigeon holes. In fact, human personality is infinite like our thumb print.

Bernard attempts to develop KYKO, an instrument with the psychological and measurement properties to address the above pitfalls. (See Pitfalls of Personality Psychometric Instruments and How KYKO address them?) on www.scribd.com). He needs the support of psychologists and psychometricans to do ongoing research to develop an authentic psychometric instrument. At this point of time, the researches conducted on KYKO are: 1. Predicting performance using the five factor model and Cases Model (KYKO) of personality by Dr Chong Chien Fatt in his doctoral thesis at New Castle University, Australia (See www.scribd.com) 2. Validation and calibration of items of KYKO Instrument by Dr. Lee Ong Kim, a measurement specialist and the Vice President of World Education Research Organization. (See www.scribd.com)

Bernard uses the compatible views of a group of psychologists to develop the five dimensional model. (Read article on KYKO Premises, theoretical concepts and Personalities Characteristics of KYKO five dimensional model of personality (See www.scribd.com) The interpretation of KYKO is based on the abbreviation of the five dimensions supported by a group of psychologists and is free from human bias.

Below are samples of the identifications of personalities using narratives of the contexts of people responding to the incident of the snake in the garden from opt i on 1 option 6 Option 1 Do, think and feel a. Do

I kill the snake An irrational act found in the neurotic cluster of traits (LSA) combined with traits of showing off, aggressiveness, courage and confidence found in the cluster of traits in assertive personality (HE). b. Think The snake is dangerous Negative or distorted thinking that all snakes are dangerous, a trait in the cluster of Neurotic Personality (LSA). c. Feel I feel bad about killing it - A feeling of remorse implies a deep well for feelings, a trait found in the cluster of sociable personality (HSO) Feeling bad about killing the snake indicates that the person has a deep well for feelings (HSO). The snake in the garden triggers the neurotic behavior of killing the snake thinking that all snakes are dangerous LSA. The act of killing the snake reflects the personal power, courage and confidence of the person (HE) By combining the doing, thinking and feeling of a person, the dimensions of this personality is LSA+HE+HSO reflected in the statement : I kill the snake (LSA+HE), the snake is dangerous (LSA), I feel bad about killing it. (HSO) Option 2 Do, Feel and Think a. Do I kill the snake An irrational act found in the neurotic cluster of traits (LSA) combined with traits of aggressiveness, courage and confidence found in the cluster of traits in assertive personality (HE). b. Feel I feel great about it HE+LSO (HE-feeling of ones personal power; LSO a shallow well for feeling (found in the cluster of traits for Asocial personality) for a snake c. Think The snake is dangerous Negative or distorted thinking that all snakes are dangerous, a trait in the cluster of Neurotic Personality (LSA).

The snake in the garden triggers the neurotic behavior from the pre-conscious mind (LSA) - Negative doing and thinking). The feeling of being great comes from the lack of compassion for a snake (Low Sociocentric - LSO) and killing the snake depicts the personal power and courage of the person ( H i g h E g o c e n t r i c - HE)

By combining the doing, feeling and thinking processes of this person, the dimensions of the personality is LSA+LSO+HE Option 3 - Feel, Think and Do a. Feel I am terrified LE ( A feeling of fear and helplessness, a trait found in the cluster of traits for submissive personality ) b. Think The snake is dangerous Negative or distorted thinking that all snakes are dangerous, a trait found in the cluster of Neurotic Personality (LSA). c. Do I flee for my life - LE An act of fear, lacking courage and confidence , traits in the cluster of traits in Submissive personality and HSE the need for safety and to protect oneself from harm found in the cluster of traits in Pragmatic Personality The encounter with a snake triggers the feeling of powerlessness and fear from the pre-conscious mind (LE) and a distorted thinking that all snakes are dangerous (LSA) leading to fleeing (LE) and a need for safety to protect oneself from harm (HSE). By combining the feeling, thinking and doing process, the dimensions of the personality is LE+LSA+HSE OPTION 4 FEEL, DO AND THINK a. Feel I am fearless A trait found in the cluster of traits for assertive personality (HE) b. Do I kill the snake - An irrational act found in the neurotic cluster of traits (LSA) combined with traits of aggressiveness, courage and confidence found in the cluster of traits in assertive personality (HE).

c. Think The snake is dangerous - Negative or distorted thinking that all snakes are dangerous, a trait found in the cluster of Neurotic Personality (LSA). The snake in the garden triggers the neurotic behavior (Negative doing and thinking Low Self Actualizing -LSA). Feeling fearless and the courage to kill reflects the

high need for power (High Egocentric - HE). By combining the processes of feeling, doing and thinking of the context of the situation, the personality dimension is HE+LSA I am fearless (HE). I kill the snake (HE + LSA) and the snake is dangerous (LSA). OPTION 5 - THINK, DO AND FEEL Scenario 1: a. Think Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do, If not what should I do? the thinking process looks at the many possibilities of handling the snake a trait found in the cluster of traits for dynamic personality - HM b. Do (Dangerous snake) Run away A trait found in the cluster of submissive personality (LE)

c.Feel I am scared of poisonous snakes A trait that depict the need for safety found in pragmatic personality -HSE By combining the thinking, doing and feeling process of the above texts, the personality dimension of the personality is HM+LE+HSE Scenario 2 b. Think Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do, If not what should I do? the thinking process looks at the many possibilities of handling the snake a trait found in the cluster of traits for dynamic personality - HM b. Do (Harmless snake) I kill it A neurotic trait found in the cluster of neurotic personality (LSA)

c. Feel I hate snakes A neurotic trait found in the cluster of neurotic personality (LSA) Hence the personality dimension is HM+LSA Scenario 3 d. Think Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do, If not what should I do? the thinking process looks at the many possibilities of handling the snake a trait found in the cluster of traits for dynamic personality - HM e. Feel I am excited. I love snakes (Dangerous) Traits found in the cluster of traits for sociable personality - HSO f. Do I will gently shoo it off and let it go A high respect for living creatures found in the cluster of normal personality (HSA) By combining the thinking, feeling and doing processes the personality dimension is HM+HSO+HSA Option 6 Think, feel and do a. Think

Is the snake dangerous? Is it poisonous? If it is poisonous what should I do, If not what should I do? - the thinking process looks at the many possibilities of handling the snake a trait found in the cluster of traits for dynamic personality - HM

b. Feel I feel relaxed and calm traits found in the cluster of traits for normal personality- HSA c. Do

I trap it and send it to the zoo traits found in the cluster of traits for normal personality HSA By combining the thinking, feeling and doing process the personality dimension is HM+HSA Notice that the personalities identified in the scenario where a person sees a snake in the garden consist of two dimension formulae and three dimensional formulae. To see the complete picture of a persons behavioral patterns, a personality must consist of five dimension formulae. ( See KYKO Presentation Slide on www.scribd.com)

CONCLUSION Clearly, interpreting behavior using KYKO personality profile based on the narrative of a context or a situation is logically a meaningful determination of a persons personality. (Read article on Application of KYKO with Sample Case Studies extracted from Project on People Management Skills in www.scribd.com.) One can also use KYKO psychometric instrument to discover ones p e rso n al i t y. F r om t h e f e ed ba ck o f ou r cl i e nt s , t he re po rt s ge ne r at ed h av e accuracy of 90% and above. KYKO psychometric instruments consist of self report statements varying from 150 to 200 statements drawn from self report statement banks to design a specific product customized for a specific purpose. The KYKO report is based on the intensity of the scores which are converted into measures of the five dimensions to interpret traits, characteristics and other qualities of the respondents.