20 August 1955 University – Skikda

English Department
3rd year / Cognitive Psychology
Miss Laiche Sara
Personality theories

Personality can be defined as relatively stable and distinctive styles of thought, behaviour, and emotional
responses that characterize a person’s adaptations to surrounding circumstances. Thus, the concept of
personality has been used to explain what causes people to behave differently in the same situation and to
explain an individual’s consistency in responding across situations. Personality results from the interplay of
biological and environmental factors. Different personality theorists emphasize different aspects of personality
and its development.

Psychoanalytic Theories

Sigmund Freud was the founder of the psychoanalytic approach to personality, although other theorists
have modified and expanded his concepts. All such theorists believe that powerful unconscious motives exist
and that conflict between motives produces anxiety and defense mechanisms. According to Freud, the
unconscious is the major motivating force in human behavior. Although we cannot directly experience the
contents of the unconscious, the contents can reveal themselves in unguarded moments through slips of the
tongue, accidents, and revealing jokes.
Freud divided the human psyche into three separate but interacting motivational forces: id, ego, and
superego. The unconscious id contains the psychic energy and biological drives. The id operates according to
the pleasure principle, seeking immediate gratification and reduction of tension, regardless of circumstances.
The ego begins developing soon after birth and helps the innate id to reduce tension realistically. The ego is
present in the conscious mind and functions according to the reality principle, seeking rational solutions to
satisfy the id’s demands. The superego (or conscience) develops in childhood and represents the moral
standards of society as conveyed to the person by his or her parents. The superego functions to prohibit the
expression of the id’s instinctive drives. Thus, the id and superego are often in conflict, and it is the ego’s task
to mediate this conflict.
Anxiety can be reduced by using defense mechanisms. A defense mechanism is a mental strategy that
blocks the harmful id impulse while reducing anxiety. Repression is the most basic defense mechanism; it
operates by pushing unacceptable id impulses back into the unconscious. All other defense mechanisms involve

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repression. Denial is the refusal to acknowledge some threat. Regression reduces anxiety by allowing the
person to behave as he or she did at an earlier, less conflict-oriented stage of life. In reaction formation, a
person replaces an anxiety-producing impulse or feeling (e.g., hate) with its opposite (e.g.,
love). Projection occurs when a person unknowingly attaches his or her own objectionable attributes to other
people. Displacement is the transfer of unacceptable feelings from their appropriate target to a much safer
object; and sublimation is a kind of displacement in which forbidden impulses are diverted toward s ocially
desirable goals. Rationalization involves attempting to explain failure or shortcomings in nonthreatening ways.
When used in moderation, defense mechanisms can have positive outcomes. They are especially useful in
dealing with short-term crisis situations. If they endure, however, they may become the person’s only way of
handling anxiety and may prevent the development of healthy relationships, thus causing more problems than
they solved.
Since Freud believed that early life experiences laid the groundwork for adult personality, he developed
an elaborate theory of personality development. Freud argued that, at different stages in a child’s life, the id’s
drive for sexual pleasure centers around different body parts, and that adult personality is shaped by the way the
child resolves the conflicts between these early sexual urges and the restrictions imposed by society. Failure to
resolve a conflict results in fixation, characterized by the symbolic expression of the conflict throughout life.
The stages in normal development are: the oral stage (where anxiety can result from withholding food
when hungry), the anal stage (where anxiety can result from inappropriate toilet training), the phallic stage (in
which pleasure focuses on masturbation and conflict comes from inadequate resolution of the Oedipus conflict),
the latency stage (in which the sexual impulses remain in the background), and finally the genital stage (in
which mature love relationships are possible and sexual intercourse provides pleasure). For Freud, adequate
personality development might not result in happiness, but would allow the ability to form relationships and be
productive. Although society was shocked at Freud’s suggestion of childhood sexuality, Freud believed that sex
was one of the most powerful impulses that shaped personality.

Trait Theories

Whereas psychoanalytic theory deals with how personality develops, trait theories are concerned with the
components of personality. Traits are relatively enduring ways in which one individual differs from another.
Trait theorists argue that personality traits are stable over time; personality traits are consistent over situations;
and individual differences are the result of differences in strength and combination of traits in a given person.
Gordon Allport identified terms used to describe people which he believed could be grouped into central
traits. These central traits characterize each person’s personality. Allport argued that each individual had a
unique personality, regardless of any general traits shared with others. Thus, he is sometimes referred to as an

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idiographic theorist, a theorist who focuses on the unique cluster of characteristics that distinguish each person
from others.
In contrast, Raymond Cattell is considered a nomothetic theorist because he focused on finding the
general, all-encompassing laws of personality. Cattell viewed the study of personality traits as a science, and
thought these traits could be classified. He used factor analysis, a mathematical technique, to identify 16
primary or source traits which describe each person’s personality.
Hans Eysenck’s nomothetic approach involved standardized tests and statistical tools to support his theory
that the traits in personality can be reduced to three major dimensions: neuroticism versus emotional stability,
introversion versus extroversion, and psychoticism. He believed that differences in brain activity underlie these
dimensions. In support of this view, alcohol, which lowers cortical arousal, has been found to make introverts
more extroverted. Similarly, amphetamines, which increase cortical arousal, have been found to make
extroverts more introverted.
There is an emerging consensus that there are five major dimensions of personality: extraversion,
neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Trait theories have been criticized
in four ways. First, they do not provide a theory of development. Second, they rely too heavily on statistical
analyses and interpretations. Third, they exaggerate the consistency of human behavior. Fourth, they lead to
circular reasoning in which traits describe behavior and behavior defines traits. Thus, trait theories are better at
describing than explaining behavior..

Humanistic Theories

The humanistic approach to personality stresses the individual’s unique perception of the world and
suggests that all people are free to fulfill their own potential. Humanistic approaches contradict the theories
which hold that our behavior is determined by forces beyond our control.
From his practices as a psychotherapist, Carl Rogers came to believe that all humans strive toward self-
actualization, the fulfillment of their capabilities and potential. He found, however, that his clients had trouble
doing this due to conditional positive regard, the withholding of love and praise unless an individual conforms
to parental or social standards. In order to gain praise from others, people incorporates into
themselves conditions of worth, strong ideals held about which thoughts and behaviors will bring positive
regard and so are desirable and "good." Rogers believed children will become healthy and fully
functioning (open, undefensive, realistic, creative, self-determining, and have underlying confidence in
themselves) if the conditions of worth they experience are few and reasonable. If not, their self-actualization
will be blocked.

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 Abraham Maslow believed that a person’s primary motivation was self-actualization, but a hierarchy of
needs must first be satisfied. This hierarchy is a series of needs that all people have. At the bottom of this
hierarchy are the fundamental needs of satisfying physical requirements and acquiring safety. Next are
the psychological needs for love and belonging and for self-esteem. Finally, if these needs are satisfied, one can
attend to the highest need, self-actualization. Unlike Rogers, Maslow used an analysis of healthy people, both
historical figures and present-day people, to develop his ideas.
Don McAdams’s theory of psychobiography combines humanistic theory with Erikson’s theory of
psychosocial development. McAdams believes that one’s understanding of one’s identity is the key to
personality. We are motivated to strive for self-coherence, a view of ourselves as integrated and having a
purpose. McAdams argues that our identity develops as we mature and becomes our life story, which can be
analyzed in much the same way as a work of literature. The theorist’s job, then, is to collect life stories and
analyze them for common and individual themes.
Critics of humanistic theories argue that they are too simple and unscientific. They also fail to offer an
explicit theory of development, and are sometimes criticized for being romantically naive. They have
contributed to the study of personality by refocusing attention on the self and by providing a positive, optimistic
view of the human condition. Although humanistic theory assigns great importance to the possibility of change,
past behavior remains an excellent predictor of future behavior.

Integrating Different Approaches to Personality

Human personality is complex and can therefore be viewed from several different perspectives. Although
most psychologists take an eclectic approach to personality, even those who prefer different approaches may
share several concepts. These major themes that personality theories all address are: the source and degree of
conflict in the personality, the importance of external influences, the importance of continuity and consistency,
and the emphasis on self-fulfillment as a goal for personality development.