PSY 301 Introduction to Psychology

Chapter 10
Personality Theory and Measurement
Chapter Introduction

This chapter introduces the different perspectives of personality specifically the

psychodynamic, trait, learning-theory, humanistic, and socio-cultural. Likewise, the measurement
of personality will also be explored in the discussion.

Topic Outcomes

At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to:

1. Describe the psychoanalytical perspectives;

2. Explain the trait perspective;
3. Identify the contributions of learning theory of understanding personality;
4. Describe the humanistic-existential perspective on personality;
5. Describe the socio-cultural perspective on personality; and
6. Describe the different kinds of tests use to measure personality.

Personality- refered to as reasonably stable patterns of emotions, motives, and behavior that
distinguish one person to another

I. Psychodynamic Perspective
✓ Psychodynamic Theory- Sigmund Freud’s perspective, which emphasizes the importance
of unconscious motives and conflicts as forces that determine behavior

Sigmund Freud’s Theory of Psychosexual Development

Freud likened the mind of a person in a tip of an iceberg which was popularly known as the
structures of the mind. The structure of the mind consists the following:

1. The unconscious- consists of the repressed emotions, beliefs, feelings and impulses deep
within are not available to the conscious level. They also consist the largest parts of our
minds. Usually, these are characterized as unpleasant that’s why people tend to repressed
or forget it. The Oedipus and the Electra Complex are believed to be in this level. Though
in the unconscious state, they still influence our thinking, feelings and doing in perhaps,
the most dramatic ways.
2. The conscious- everything that we are aware of; the very small portion of our minds; can
be seen in the tip of an iceberg
3. The subconscious- also known as the preconscious; part of us that we can reach of
prompted but is not in our active conscious; right below the surface, but still “hidden”
somewhat, unless we search for it

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To help explain the dynamics of the individual’s psychological development, Freud

proposed three theoretical components/ structure of personality: the id, ego and super
ego.

1. The id- present at birth and the source of our unconscious impulses toward fulfillment
of needs. It operates according to the pleasure principle, that is, the striving for
immediate gratification. The id wants whatever seems satisfying and enjoyable- and
wants it now. The impatient, greedy infant screaming for food in the middle of the night
is all id.
2. The ego- rational aspect of personality; operates according to the reality principle and
attempts to satisfy the id’s demands in realistic and appropriate ways that recognize life
as it is not as the id wants it to be. Gradually, babies learn that other people have
demands of their own and that gratification must sometimes wait. The ego also provides
the conscious sense of self.
3. The superego- at about age 4 or 5, the superego starts to develop, as children begin to
identify with their parents’ moral standards during the phallic stage. The superego is
like relentless conscience that distinguishes right from wrong in realistically moralistic
terms. Its prime objective is to strive for perfection and to keep the id in check. In this
regard, it is the function of the ego to mediate between the primal desires of the id and
the superego’s unbending effort to inhibit those desires.

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The Stages of Psychosexual Development

Freud stirred controversy by arguing that sexual impulses are a central factor in personality
development, even among children. He believed that sexual feelings are closely linked to children’s
basic ways of relating to the world. Thus, he proposed the psychosexual stages of development.

1. Oral Stage (first year of life)

• Reflects the infant’s need for gratification from the mother

• An infant’s eating, sucking, spitting and chewing do not only satisfy hunger, but also
provide pleasure
• Area of gratification is in the mouth

2. Anal Stage (second- third year of life)

• Reflects the toddler’s need for gratification along the rectal area
• During this stage, children must endure the demands of toilet training
• For the first time, outside agents interfere with the instructional impulses by insisting that
the child should inhibit the urge to defecate until he or she has reached a designated place
to do so

3. Phallic Stage (fourth- fifth year of life)

• Reflects the preschooler’s gratification involving the genitals

• Children at this stage gratify their sex instinct by fondling their genitals and developing an
incestuous desire for the opposite sex parent
• Oedipus complex the son’s intense sexual longing for his mother
• Electra complex the daughter’s intense sexual longing for her father

4. Latency Stage (sixth year of life to puberty)

• During this time, sexual desires are repressed and all the child’s available *libido (*sex
instinct) is channeled into socially acceptable outlets such as school work or vigorous play
that consume most of the child’s physical and psychic energy

5. Genital Stage (from puberty onwards)

• Characterized by the maturation of the reproductive system, production of sex hormones,

and a reactivation of the genital zone as an area of sensual pleasure
• Throughout adolescence and young adulthood, libido is invested in activities such as
forming friendships, preparing for a career, courtship, marriage- that prepare the individual
to satisfy his fully mature sex instinct by having children
• The longest period in the psychosexual stages lasting until old age

*Fixation is the term used by Freud to describe the person’s tendency to stay in a particular stage
of development because of either frustration or overindulgence.

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II. The NEO-FREUDIANS

A. Carl Jung- Analytical Psychology
✓ Downplayed the importance of sex, which he saw as just one of several important instincts
✓ He believed that we not only have a personal unconscious that contains repressed
memories and impulses, but also a collective unconscious containing primitive images,
or archetypes that reflect the history of our species
✓ Analytical Psychology refers to the psychodynamic theory which emphasized the
collective unconscious and archetypes

B. Alfred Adler- Individual Psychology

✓ Adler believed that people are basically motivated by an inferiority complex
✓ Inferiority complex- feelings of inferiority hypothesized by Adler to serve as a central
motivating force
✓ Adler believed that self-awareness plays a major role in the formation of personality
✓ Creative Self- according to Adler, the self-aware aspect of personality that strives to
achieve its full potential

C. Karen Horney- Feminine Psychology

✓ Psychoanalytic theory taught that little girls feel inferior to boys when they learn that boys
have a penis and they do not. BUT Horney argued that little girls DO NOT feel inferior to
boys and that these views were founded on Western cultural prejudice, not scientific
evidence
✓ Horney agreed with Freud that childhood experiences are important with psychological
development
✓ Horney asserted that unconscious sexual and aggressive impulse are less important than
social relationships. She also believed that genuine and consistent love can alleviate the
effects of a traumatic childhood

D. Erik Erikson- Psychosocial Stages of Development

✓ Like Karen Horney, Erikson believed that social relationships are more important
determinants of personality than sexual urges
✓ Psychosocial Development- Erikson’s theory of personality development, which
emphasizes social relationships and eight stages of growth

II. The Trait Perspective

Trait- reasonably stable elements of personality that are inferred from behavior
✓ Traits are assumed to account consistent behavior in different situations

A. From Hippocrates to the Present

Hippocrates believed that traits are embedded in bodily fluids. In his view, a person’s
personality depends on the balance of four basic fluid, or “humors” in the body. Yellow bile is
associated with a choleric (quick-tempered) disposition; blood with sanguine (warm, cheerful)
one; phlegm with a phlegmatic (sluggish, calm, cool) disposition; and black bile with a
melancholic (gloomy, pensive) temperament.

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More contemporary trait theories assume that traits are heritable and are embedded in the
nervous system. These theories rely on the mathematical technique of factor analysis, developed
by Charles Spearman to study intelligence, to determine which traits are basic to others.

Early in the 20th century, Gordon Allport, and a colleague catalogue some 18,000 human
traits from a search through word lists like dictionaries. Some were physical trait=its such as short,
weak, and brunette. Others were behavioral traits such as shy and emotional. Still, others were
moral traits such as honest. This exhaustive list has served as the basis for personality research by
many other psychologists.

B. Hans Eysenck’s Trait Theory

✓ Hans J. Eysenck focused much of his research on the relationships between two personality
traits: introversion- extraversion and emotional stability- instability (emotional
instability is called neuroticism)
✓ Introversion- a trait characterized by intense imagination and the tendency to inhibit
impulses
✓ Extraversion- a trait characterized by tendencies to be socially outgoing and to express
feelings and impulses freely

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✓ Eysenck added the dimension of emotional stability-instability to introversion-extraversion

✓ According to Eysenck’s dimensions, the choleric type would be extraverted and unstable;
the sanguine type, extraverted and stable; the phlegmatic type, introverted and stable; and
the melancholic type, introverted and unstable

C. The “Big Five”: The Five-Factor Model

✓ Robert McCrae and Paul T. Costa, Jr. played a role in the development of the five-factor
model
✓ The Five-Factor Model is also known as the Big Five Model

The “Big Five”: The Five-Factor Model

Factor Name Traits
Contrasts talkativeness, assertiveness, and activity with
I. Extraversion
silence, passivity, and reserve
Contrasts kindness, trust, and warmth with hostility,
II. Agreeableness
selfishness, and distrust
Contrasts organization, thoroughness, and reliability with
III. Conscientiousness
carelessness, negligence, and unreliability
Contrasts nervousness, moodiness, and sensitivity to
IV. Neuroticism
negative stimuli with coping ability
Contrasts imagination, curiosity, and creativity with
V. Openness to Experiences
shallowness and lack of perceptiveness

D. Biology and Traits

✓ Research suggests that brain levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine are involved with
extraversion and that levels tend to be higher in extraverts than in introverts (Smilie, et.al,
2009, Wacker, et.al. 2009)
✓ Genetic factors are part of a child’s basic temperament and are involved in shyness and
behavioral inhibition (Jerome Kagan)
✓ In a review of the literature, Adrian Raine (2008) has extensively studied that intersection
of biology and the antisocial personality. Raine found a number of brain impairments that
are related to the development of an antisocial personality in the ventral prefrontal cortex
(part of the so-called executive center of the brain), and the amygdala (part of the limbic
system)

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III. Learning Theory Perspectives

✓ While Trait Theory focuses on enduring personality characteristics that were generally
presumed to be embedded in the nervous system, Learning Theorists tend not to theorize
in terms of traits. Instead, learning theorists focused on behaviors and presume that
those behaviors are largely learned.

A. Behaviorism
✓ Behaviorist view that situational or environmental influences, not internal, individual
variables, are the key shapers of personality
✓ In contrast to the psychoanalysts and structuralists of his day, John Watson argued that
unseen, undetectable mental structures must be rejected in favor of that which can be seen
and measured
✓ The views of Watson and Skinner largely ignored the notions of personal freedom,
choice, and self-direction; most of us assume that our wants originate within us
✓ John Watson and BF Skinner suggested that environmental influences such as parental
approval and social customs shape us into wanting certain things and not wanting others

B. Social Cognitive Theory

✓ Developed by Albert Bandura
✓ In contrast to behaviorism which focuses on observable behavior and the situations
in which behavior occurs, social cognitive theory focuses on learning observation and
on the cognitive processes that underlie personal differences
✓ Social cognitive theorists differ from behaviorists in that they see people as influencing
their environment just as their environment affects them
✓ Social cognitive theorists agree with behaviorists that discussions of human nature should
be tied to observable behavior, but they assert that variables within people- person
variables- must also be considered if we are to understand people

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✓ Situational variables include rewards and punishments; person variables include

knowledge and skills, ways of interpreting experience, expectancies, emotions, and self-
regulatory systems and plans
✓ Observational Learning is one of the foundations of social cognitive theory which refers
to acquiring knowledge by observing others

IV. The Humanistic- Existential Perspective

✓ Humanists and existentialists dwell on the meaning of life
✓ Humanism- the view that people are capable of free choice, self-fulfillment and ethical
behavior
✓ Existentialism- the view that people are responsible for their own behavior
✓ Humanistic-existential theories have tremendous appeal because of their focus on the
importance of personal experience
✓ Humanistic- existential theories, like learning theories, have little to say about the
development of traits and personality types
✓ They assume that we are all unique, but they do not predict the sorts of traits, abilities, and
interests we will develop

V. The Sociocultural Perspective

✓ The sociocultural perspective provides valuable insights into the roles of ethnicity, gender,
culture, and socio-economic status in personality formation
✓ It enhances our sensitivity to cultural differences and expectations and allows us to
appreciate the richness of human behavior and mental processes

Measurement of Personality
✓ Validity of a test is the extent to which it measures what it is supposed to measure
✓ Reliability of the test is the stability of one’s test results from one testing to another
✓ Test standardization is a process that checks out the scores, validity, reliability of test
with people of various ages and from various groups
✓ Behavior-rating scales assess behavior in settings such as classrooms or mental hospitals

Kinds of Test
A. Objective Tests
✓ Present respondents with a standardized group of test items in the form of
questionnaire
✓ Tests whose items must be answered in a specified, limited manner; tests whose
items have concrete answers that are considered correct

B. Projective Tests
✓ Have no clear, specified answers
✓ A psychological test that presents ambiguous stimuli onto which the test-taker
projects his/her own personality in making a response

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✓ Examples:

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Thematic Apperception Test

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Children Apperception Test (CAT)

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