COURSE OUTLINE

Personality and Group Dynamics

Purpose
We will have an overview of major personality theories with regard to their development,
philosophical assumptions, theoretical concepts and their implications in work with individuals,
students, workmates and families. Students are encouraged to develop a reflective and critically
interactive perspective to facilitate their work. . We will examine the factors that influence
group membership and how the structure and development of groups progresses over time. We
will look at intragroup dynamics and how the perceptions of our ingroup members influence
attitudes, judgments, and performance.  Students will identify facilitative and teambuilding skills
and develop the abilities needed to effectively address dysfunctional team behavior. By
analyzing the maturity/diversity of the groups they will then apply a variety of leadership styles
to maximize group performance.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
 Identify, describe, and apply the major theories of personality, including Psychoanalytic,
psychoanalytic, , Trait, Humanistic, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social Learning
approaches
 Examine the philosophical assumptions, historical and cultural factors that underlie the
development of each personality theory
 Analyze, compare, and utilize the major personality theories to assess case studies of
personality disorders
 Develop a deeper self understanding of their own personality and personality
development
 Apply personality theories to the work
 Set group goals, objectives and expectations
 Utilize effective problem solving, decision making and conflict resolution skills
 Explain how values, ethics and morals influence group development
 Describe how gender, power, diversity and the environment impacts groups
 Manage issues and conflict in groups based on the composition of the group

Course Content
WEEK TOPIC
1 Definition and introduction
2 Theories of personality: Trait, Humanistic
3 Theories of personality: Cognitive, Behavioural, and Social Learning approaches
4 Theories of personality: Psychoanalytic and defence mechanism
5 Theories of personality: Defence mechanism
6 Methods of Assessing Personality
7 Personality and Classroom Learning
8 CAT
9 Origins and Membership of Groups
9 Group Dynamics: group pressure, power and influence
10 Group Dynamics: leadership and group performance
11 Group Dynamics: motivational processes in groups
11-14 REVISION AND END OF SEMESTER EXAMS

Mode of Delivery:
Lectures
Group discussions
Peer teaching/presentations
Simulation/role play
Question & answer

Instructional/Learning Resources/Instrumentation
L.C.D / Projector
Teaching Aid
White/Black boards /Chalk/Felt pen
Text books
Films/Videos
Academic Trips
Evaluation/Assessment Methods
C.A.Ts 30%
Term papers
End of Semester Exam (70%)

Core-references
Kabiru M, Njenga A. (2011). General Psychologyand Personalty Development. Nairobi. Focus
Publishers
Forsyth, Donelson. (2010). Group Dynamics. New York: Wadsworth.
Recommended Text

Cloninger, S.C. (2008). Theories of personality: Understanding persons (5th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Schultz, D., & Schultz, S. E. (2009). Theories of Personality, 9th ed. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth/Thompson.

Corey, M. S., Corey, G., & Corey, C. (2010). Groups: Process and practice (9th ed.). Belmont,
CA: Brooks/Cole.
PERSONALITY CONCEPTS
Person
A person is "any entity that has the moral right of self-determination."  A person is the kind of
entity that has the moral right to make its own life-choices, to live its life without (unprovoked)
interference from others. Many properties have been suggested as being necessary for being a
person: Intelligence, the capacity to speak a language, creativity, the ability to make moral
judgments, consciousness, free will, a soul, self-awareness etc
Temperament
Temperament refers to the characteristics and aspects of personality that we are born with. For
that reason, they are similar to traits in that they are both innate (born with these things) and
enduring. Infants who are anxious and nervous tend to be the same way when they are older. One
difference though is that temperament more often relates to emotionality...the specific emotional
characteristics such as calm, anxious, or nervous. Temperament is an individual's characteristic
level of emotional excitability or intensity and is typically recognized within the first few weeks
after birth. It is often assumed to be an early indication of personality, though personality
combines temperament with experiences to shape life-long traits.
Types of Temperament
For the majority of infants, their temperament falls into one of three broad categories:
1. Difficult babies are often irritable and fussy. They are upset easily and may be
unpredictable when it comes to feeding schedules.
2. Easy babies are calm and relaxed. They do follow predictable feeding schedules but are
also flexible within their day. They are often seen as friendly and happy.
3. Slow-to-warm-up babies do not like new situations. They are cautious and sometimes
fussy, but they do warm up to new stimuli or situations with repeated exposure.
While many infants strictly display one dominant type of the three temperaments, some infants
show a combination of the three types depending on the situation.

Personality
In our effort to define the word more precisely, we can look to its source. Personality derives
from the Latin word persona, which refers to a mask used by actors in a play. It is easy to see
how persona came to refer to outward appearance, the public face we display to the people
around us.
Based on its derivation, then, we might conclude that personality refers to our external and
visible characteristics, those aspects of us that other people can see. Our personality would then
be defined in terms of the impression we make on others— that is, what we appear to be.

The word encompasses a host of subjective social and emotional qualities as well, ones that we
may not be able to see directly, that a person may try to hide from us, or that we may try to hide
from others.

We may also, in our use of the word personality, refer to enduring characteristics. We assume
that personality is relatively stable and predictable. Although we recognize, for example, that a
friend may be calm much of the time, we know that he or she can become excitable, nervous, or
panicky at other times. Thus, our personality can vary with the situation. Yet although it is not
rigid, it is generally resistant to sudden changes.
NB

Our definition of personality may also include the idea of human uniqueness. We see similarities
among people, yet we sense that each of us possesses special properties that distinguish us from
all others. Thus, we may suggest that personality is an enduring and unique cluster of
characteristics that may change in response to different situations.

Even this, however, is not a definition with which all psychologists agree. To achieve more
precision, we must examine what each personality theorist means by the term. Each offers a
unique version, a personal vision, of the nature of personality, and that viewpoint has become his
or her definition. And that is what this book is all about: reaching an understanding of the
different versions of the concept of personality and examining the various ways of defining the
word I.

Psychologists interested in personality do more than formulate theories in their attempts to define
its nature. They also devote considerable time and effort to measuring or assessing personality
and to conducting research on its various aspects. Although the primary focus of this book is
theories, we will describe for each theory the relevant assessment techniques and research
findings
Personality Traits
Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Personality traits imply consistency and stability—someone who scores high on a specific trait
like Extraversion is expected to be sociable in different situations and over time. Thus, trait
psychology rests on the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on
a set of basic trait dimensions that persist over time and across situations. The most widely used
system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This system includes five broad traits that can be
remembered with the acronym OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion,
Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of the major traits from the Big Five can be divided into
facets to give a more fine-grained analysis of someone's personality. In addition, some trait
theorists argue that there are other traits that cannot be completely captured by the Five-Factor
Model. Critics of the trait concept argue that people do not act consistently from one situation to
the next and that people are very influenced by situational forces. Thus, one major debate in the
field concerns the relative power of people’s traits versus the situations in which they find
themselves as predictors of their behavior.
Character
Personality is easy to read, and we're all experts at it. We judge people funny, extroverted,
energetic, optimistic, confident—as well as overly serious, lazy, negative, and shy—if not upon
first meeting them, then shortly thereafter. And though we may need more than one interaction to
confirm the presence of these sorts of traits, by the time we decide they are, in fact, present we've
usually amassed enough data to justify our conclusions.
Character, on the other hand, takes far longer to puzzle out. It includes traits that reveal
themselves only in specific—and often uncommon—circumstances, traits like honesty, virtue,
and kindliness. Ironically, research has shown that personality traits are determined largely by
heredity and are mostly immutable. The arguably more important traits of character, on the other
hand, are more malleable—though, we should note, not without great effort. Character traits, as
opposed to personality traits, are based on beliefs (e.g., that honesty and treating others well is
important—or not), and though beliefs can be changed, it's far harder than most realize.
Individuality/Uniqueness
Individuality is the possession of characteristics that help to set an individual apart from others
and thereby make him unique. It can also be defined as the ability to act along lines that one
believes are correct for oneself. That is, if one’s convictions and beliefs and outlook on life
appear correct to him, he or she proceeds to shape his or her life on that basis even if others do
not approve of it.
Behaviour
Behavior In its broader sense includes all types of human activities eg
 Motor activities (Walking, speaking)
 Cognitive activities (perceiving, remembering, thinking, reasoning)
 Emotional activities (feeling happy, sad, angry, afraid)

Behavior is both mental and bodily.

 Mental behaviors are thinking, reasoning, imagination and other mental experiences or
processes.
 Bodily behavior refers to the movements and actions of the body in response to a
situation.
Behavior is the reaction of an individual to a particular environment. The environment exerts
influence on individuals. That influence is called stimulus. The stimulus in turn arouses an
activity from the individual and this is called the response.

BASIC QUESTIONS ABOUT HUMAN NATURE

Personality theorists differ on basic questions about human nature: free will versus determinism,
nature versus nurture, the importance of the past versus the present, uniqueness versus
universality, equilibrium versus growth, and optimism versus pessimism.
1. Free Will or Determinism?
A basic question about human nature concerns the age-old controversy between free will and
determinism. Theorists on both sides of the issue ask, do we consciously direct the course of our
actions? Can we spontaneously choose the direction of our thoughts and behavior, rationally
selecting among alternatives? Do we have a conscious awareness and a measure of self-control?
Are we masters of our fate or are we victims of past experience, biological factors, unconscious
forces, or external stimuli—forces over which we have no conscious control? Have external
events so shaped our personality that we are incapable of changing our behavior?
Some personality theorists take extreme positions on this issue. Others express more moderate
views, arguing that some behaviors are determined by past events and some can be pontaneous
and under our control.
2. Nature or Nurture?
A second issue has to do with the nature-nurture controversy. Which is the more important
influence on behavior: inherited traits and attributes (our nature or genetic endowment) or
features of our environment (the nurturing influences of our upbringing, education, and
training)? Do the abilities, temperaments, and predispositions we inherit determine our
personality, or are we shaped more strongly by the conditions under which we live? Personality
is not the only topic affected by this issue. Controversy also exists about the question of
intelligence: Is intelligence affected more by genetic endowment (nature) or by the stimulation
provided by home and school settings (nurture)?
As with the free will–determinism issue, the alternatives are not limited to extreme positions.
Many theorists assume that personality is shaped by both sets of forces. To some, inheritance is
the predominant influence and environment of minor importance; others hold the opposite view.
3. Past or Present?
A third issue involves the relative importance of past events, such as our early childhood
experiences, compared with events that occur later in life. Which is the more powerful shaper of
personality? If we assume, as some theorists do, that what happens to us in infancy and
childhood is critical to personality formation, we must consequently believe that our later
development is little more than an elaboration of the basic themes laid down in the early years of
life. This view is known as historical determinism. Our personality (so this line of thought goes)
is mostly fixed by the age of five or so and is subject to little change over the rest of our life. The
adult personality is determined by the nature of these early experiences.
The opposite position considers personality to be more independent of the past, capable of being
influenced by events and experiences in the present as well as by our aspirations and goals for
the future. An intermediate position has also been proposed. We might assume that early
experiences shape personality but not rigidly or permanently. Later experiences may act to
reinforce or modify early personality patterns.
4. Uniqueness or Universality?
Is human nature unique or universal? This is another issue that divides personality theorists. We
may think of personality as so individual that each person’s action, each utterance, has no
counterpart or equivalent in any other person. This obviously makes the comparison of one
person with another meaningless. Other positions allow for uniqueness but interpret this within
overall patterns of behavior accepted as universal, at least within a given culture.
5. Equilibrium or Growth?
A fifth issue involves what we might call our ultimate and necessary life goals. Theorists differ
on what constitutes our major motivation in life. Do we function like machines, like some sort of
self-regulating mechanism, content as long as some internal equilibrium or balance is
maintained? Do we act solely to satisfy physical needs, to obtain pleasure and avoid pain? Is our
happiness totally dependent on keeping stress to a minimum?
Some theorists believe that people are tension-reducing, pleasure-seeking animals. Others
consider us to be motivated primarily by the need to grow, to realize our full potential, and to
reach for ever-higher levels of self-actualization and development.
6. Optimism or Pessimism?
One additional issue reflects a theorist’s outlook on life. We may call it optimism versus
pessimism. Are human beings basically good or evil, kind or cruel, compassionate or merciless?
Here we are dealing with a question of morality, a value judgment, which supposedly has no
place in the objective and dispassionate world of science. However, several theorists have dealt
with the question, at least implicitly. Some theorists’ views of the human personality are positive
and hopeful, depicting us as humanitarian, altruistic, and socially conscious. Other theorists find
few of these qualities in human beings, either individually or collectively.
THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
A theory provides the framework for simplifying and describing empirical data in a meaningful
way. A theory can be considered a kind of map that represents the data in their interrelationships.
It attempts to bring order to the data, to fit them into a pattern.

Theories are sets of principles used to explain a particular class of phenomena (in our case, the
behaviors and experiences relating to personality). If personality theories are to be useful, they
must be testable, capable of stimulating research on their various propositions. Researchers must
be able to conduct experiments to determine whether aspects of the theory should be accepted or
rejected. Personality theories must be able to clarify and explain the data of personality by
organizing those data into a coherent framework. Theories should also help us understand and
predict behavior. Those theories that can be tested and can explain, understand, and predict
behavior may then be applied to help people change their behaviors, feelings, and emotions from
harmful to helpful, from undesirable to desirable.

Formal theories in psychology, as well as in other sciences, have certain characteristics that set
them apart from our personal theories Formal theories are based on data from observations of
large numbers of people of diverse natures, whereas personal theories are derived from our
observations of a limited number of persons—usually our small circle of relatives, friends, and
acquaintances, as well as ourselves. Because a broader range of data supports formal theories,
they are more comprehensive. We can generalize more effectively from formal theories to
explain and predict the behavior of more kinds of people.

A second characteristic is that formal theories are likely to be more objective because scientists’
observations are, ideally, unbiased by their needs, fears, de sires, and values. In contrast, our
personal theories are based as much on observations of ourselves as of others. We tend to
interpret the actions of other people in terms of our thoughts and feelings, evaluating their
reactions to a situation on the basis of what we would do or how we would feel. We view others
in personal and subjective terms, whereas scientists try to observe more objectively and
dispassionately.

Another characteristic is that formal theories are tested repeatedly against reality, often by a
scientist other than the one who proposed the theory. A formal theory may be put to many
objective experimental tests and, as a consequence, be supported, modified, or rejected in light of
the results. Personal theories are not so tested by us or by a neutral party. Once we develop a
personal theory about people in general or about one person in particular, we tend to cling to it,
perceiving only those behaviors that confirm our theory and failing to attend to those that
contradict it.

Many psychologists have developed theories about personality—how to describe it, how it
emerges, what influences it, how it changes, and what constitutes a healthy or an abnormal
personality.
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY

The first of the modern personality theories was developed by Sigmund Freud and is known as
psychoanalytic theory. The psychiatric practice of this theory is called psychoanalysis. Freud’s
ideas were plentiful, profound, and often controversial. His theory about personality has had
tremendous influence on societies around the world through many different disciplines. Not only
psychology has been influenced and informed by the ideas of Freud, but also literature, art,
philosophy, cultural studies, film theory, and many other academic subjects. Freud’s theory
represents one of the major intellectual ideas of the modern world. Right or wrong, these ideas
have had a lasting and enormous impact.

Exploring the Unknown

To understand Freud’s theory of personality, we must begin with the concept of the
unconscious. This is the cornerstone idea in psychoanalytic theory. Freud believed that most
behaviors are caused by thoughts, ideas, and wishes that are in a person’s brain but are not easily
accessible by the conscious part of the mind. In other words, your brain knows things that your
mind doesn’t. This reservoir of conceptions of which we are unaware is called the unconscious.
Psychoanalytic theory proposes that personality characteristics are mostly a reflection of the
contents of the unconscious part of the mind.

Pushing Things Down

Freud believed that the unconscious is a part of our biological nature and that it operates
naturally, just as do all our biological functions. Freud suggested that certain ideas and thoughts
are repressed, that is, pushed out of awareness and into the unconscious. This happens,
according to Freud’s theory, when those ideas and thoughts are threatening to us. Repression
works something like our immune system: It protects us from dangerous things. In the case of
personality, dangerous things include anything that threatens self-esteem or feelings of comfort
and pleasure. When we have thoughts or ideas that are threatening, they are pushed out of
consciousness because awareness of them produces anxiety. They make us feel nervous.
Thereby, through repression, our unconscious protects us from anxiety.

Dreams and Slips

Although repression keeps undesirable information in the unconscious and out of awareness, that
repressed information is influential and, according to Freudian theory, can seep out of the
unconscious and express itself through behaviors, thoughts, and dreams. Unconscious thoughts
express themselves in a disguised form so as not to overly disturb the conscious mind. It is as if
the unconscious is a boiling cauldron of threatening and anxiety-producing ideas, but the steam
from this boiling pot can filter up into our awareness and influence our behaviors and haunt our
emotions and cognitions.

Freud proposed that the best place to look for clues to the unconscious is in dreams. A dream,
Freud said, is a disguised form of what we unconsciously wish for. Dreams are wish fulfillment.
Through them, we get what our unconscious wants. But dreams are not obvious and direct
mirrors of unconscious ideas. A dream must be analyzed \and interpreted in order to understand
the clues that it provides.

Sometimes, according to Freud, a mistake is not a mistake. Just as dreams have hidden
meanings, some mistakes have hidden meanings. When we make a mistake that is influenced by
the unconscious (when a mistake is not a mistake, when a mistake has meaning) it is called a
Freudian slip, for example, a slip of the tongue. If you accidentally call your boyfriend or
girlfriend by the wrong name, it might just be a mistake; but it might be a Freudian slip. That is,
it might be a mistake that reveals something about your unconscious thoughts and wishes. If a
person has done something that he believes to be wrong (perhaps he told a lie earlier in the day)
and this act has made him feel guilty, then perhaps later, while peeling potatoes, he might
unintentionally cut himself. Freud said that sometimes such an act is no accident. The feelings of
guilt in the unconscious might have directed the person to cut himself as a punishment for his
lying.

Remember, it does no good to ask a person whether this is true. Freud’s theory says that this
information is in the unconscious—a person is not aware of it. In fact, during therapy, Freudian
psychoanalysts believe that if a patient becomes overly upset when a therapist suggests that there
is a particular thought or wish in the patient’s unconscious, this might be evidence that the
therapist is on the right track. In psychoanalytic theory, this is known as resistance, referring to
the idea that patients will resist suggestions that probe the anxiety-producing contents of the
unconscious. The unconscious wants to keep those thoughts from awareness and becomes upset
when they are approached. One of the techniques used in psychoanalysis is to analyze the
patient’s resistance, to see what clues it might provide regarding the person’s unconscious
thoughts.

Theoretically, the stuff in the unconscious is there because it is bothersome to the person. The
mind actively represses the information, whether that is rational or not.Freud’s view is that
repression might be harmful and might be the cause of a patient’s mental or behavioral
symptoms. Freud’s “cure” is to reveal the unconscious information. If a therapist suggests that a
patient’s problems might be connected to his relationship with his mother and the patient
screams, “Leave my mother out of this!” the psychoanalytic therapist views this response as
indicative of repression and resistance and a signal that therapy should proceed in that direction.

Personality Structures

Freud suggested an analogy about the mind. He said that the mind is like an iceberg in the ocean,
floating 10% above the water and 90% below. The unconscious, Freud proposed, makes up the
vast majority of our mind. In Freud’s view, only about 10% of our behaviors are caused by
conscious awareness—about 90% are produced by unconscious factors. According to
psychoanalytic theory, most of what controls our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings is unknown to
our aware minds. Normally, the unconscious guides us.
Freud said that the mind could be divided into three abstract categories. These are the id, the ego,
and the superego. Although these are known as structures, do not take the term literally. Freud
did not mean that these are physical parts of our bodies or our brains. He coined these terms and
proposed this division of the mind as abstract ideas meant to help us understand how personality
develops and works, and how mental illnesses can develop.

1. The id: Latin for the term “it,” this division of the mind includes our basic instincts, inborn
dispositions, and animalistic urges. Freud said that the id is totally unconscious, that we are
unaware of its workings. The id is not rational; it imagines, dreams, and invents things to get us
what we want. Freud said that the id operates according to the pleasure principle—it aims
toward pleasurable things and away from painful things. The id aims to satisfy our biological
urges and drives. It includes feelings of hunger, thirst, sex, and other natural body desires aimed
at deriving pleasure.

2. The ego: Greek and Latin for “I,” this personality structure begins developing in childhood
and can be interpreted as the “self.” The ego is partly conscious and partly unconscious. The ego
operates according to the reality principle; that is, it attempts to help the id get what it wants by
judging the difference between real and imaginary. If a person is hungry, the id might begin to
imagine food and even dream about food. (The id is not rational.) The ego, however, will try to
determine how to get some real food. The ego helps a person satisfy needs through reality.

3. The superego: This term means “above the ego,” and includes the moral ideas that a person
learns within the family and society. The superego gives people feelings of pride when they do
something correct (the ego ideal) and feelings of guilt when they do something they consider to
be morally wrong (the conscience). The superego, like the ego, is partly conscious and partly
unconscious. The superego is a child’s moral barometer, and it creates feelings of pride and guilt
according to the beliefs that have been learned within the family and the culture.

Freud theorized that healthy personality development requires a balance between the id and the
superego. These two divisions of the mind are naturally at conflict with one another: The id
attempts to satisfy animal, biological urges, while the superego preaches patience and restraint.
The struggle between these two is an example of intrapsychic conflict—conflict within the
mind. According to psychoanalytic theory, defense mechanisms are automatic (unconscious)
reactions to the fear that the id’s desires will overwhelm the ego. Freud believed that a healthy
personality was one in which the id’s demands are met but also the superego is satisfied in
making the person feel proud and not overwhelmed by guilt. If the id is too strong, a person will
be rude, overbearing, selfish, and animalistic. If the superego is too strong, a person is constantly
worried, nervous, and full of guilt and anxiety and is always repressing the id’s desires.

An overly strong id makes one a psychopath, lacking a conscience, or an ogre, selfishly meeting
one’s needs without concern for others. An overly strong superego, on the other hand, makes one
a worrier, a neurotic, so overwhelmed by guilt that it is difficult to get satisfaction. Sometimes it
is said that the ego is the mediator between the id and the superego, but this is not what Freud
said. The ego does not help to find compromise; the ego helps the id to satisfy its desires by
focusing on what is real.

The Stage Is Set

Freud theorized that personality traits evolve through a series of stages that occur during
childhood and adolescence. These are called psychosexual stages because they focus on mental
(psyche) ideas about sex. However, it is important to note that Freud’s language was German,
and not everything from German translates precisely into English. When we say that Freud’s
theory concentrates on “sex,” we are using that term in an overly broad manner. There is no
word in English for exactly what Freud was talking about. “Sensuality” might be closer than
“sex” to the concept that Freud had in mind. Freud was referring to everything that gave a person
bodily pleasure. In psychoanalytic theory, sucking your thumb is part of sex. Massaging your
neck is also included. Freud believed that these pleasurable activities of the body were
instinctually inborn and that they were often frowned on by society. The sexual activities that
were most disapproved of were repressed into the unconscious and therefore were most likely to
influence personality.

Freud proposed that personality traits arise at certain times of our lives. For instance, dependency
is a personality trait that arises during childhood when the child is very dependent on others. In a
sense, Freud suggested that the seeds of adult personality traits are planted during childhood. The
particular things that happen to us, those things that were repressed because they were sexual or
traumatic, are retained in our unconscious and thereby sprout up as adult personality
characteristics. The seeds of our adult traits were planted during the psychosexual stages.

The adult personality, according to Freud, is a reflection of the contents of the unconscious. The
unconscious is the reservoir of important things that happened to us in childhood. Biological
urges, trauma, sexuality, aggression, and other incidents that were repressed provide the impetus
for certain personality traits. According to Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, an adult personality
trait is a throwback to some unconscious urge, such as the urge to gain parental favor. If too
much or too little satisfaction occurs during a childhood stage or if a traumatic event occurs
during that stage, then a person will exhibit personality traits consistent with that stage. This is
known as fixation. We say that a person with babyish traits such as dependency or biting his or
her fingernails is fixated in the oral stage. According to psychoanalytic theory, the roots of
personality are found in childhood.

Freud’s psychosexual stages are as follows:

1. Oral: The first stage in Freud’s theory covers babies up to about the age of one and a half
years. The driving force during this stage is interest and pleasure in activities involving the
mouth (hence the term oral), such as sucking and biting. Adult oral personality traits that derive
from the oral stage include anything to do with the mouth, such as smoking, overeating, or biting
the nails, and anything that is babylike, such as being naïve (“swallowing” anything you are told)
or being dependent on others.

2. Anal: This stage centers on toilet training, beginning around the age of 18 months or two years
and extending up to preschool, about age three. The term anal, of course, refers to the anus, the
rear end (the opposite end of oral), and one of the jokes in psychology is that you can’t spell
analysis without anal. This joke makes light of the fact that Freud believed this stage to be
crucial in planting the seeds for a number of adult personality traits. In the anal stage the child is
being toilet trained and is learning to hold in and to let out at appropriate times. Therefore, Freud
proposed that personality traits related to either holding in or letting out were formed during the
anal stage. The following traits are known as anal-retentive (finding pleasure from holding in):
neatness, orderliness, punctuality, cleanliness, compulsiveness, perfectionism, and stinginess.
The following are called anal-expulsive (finding pleasure from letting out): being undisciplined,
messy, disorderly, late, impulsive, and overly generous.

3. Phallic: This stage occurs approximately during the preschool years. The term phallic means
any representation of the penis, which, according to Freud, is the main occupation of the
unconscious during the childhood years of about three to six among both boys and girls. It is at
this time, theoretically, that children become aware of whether or not they have a penis, and
Freud believed that this causes a bit of anxiety in the unconscious parts of their minds. Boys,
Freud reasoned, become protective of their penis and fear having it taken away. This is known as
castration anxiety and might be manifested in a young boy’s fear of knives, scissors, or being
bitten by dogs. Girls, Freud thought, feel resentful that they do not have a penis and hence seek
phallic things and activities that will provide them with feelings of power and possession. This is
known as penis envy and might be seen when preschool girls develop a deep fondness for
horses, unicorns, and other strong, masculine things or long, pointed objects.

Freud proposed an unconscious drama during this stage that he called his most important idea. It
is called the Oedipus complex (sometimes referred to as the Oedipal conflict). This unconscious
process is named after the Greek story of Oedipus, the man who was raised by foster parents and
grew up to unwittingly kill his biological father and marry his biological mother. Freud said that
a similar drama occurs in the unconscious minds of preschool boys, who favor their mothers and
fear their fathers (castration anxiety). The child resents the father for getting all of the mother’s
attentions. Many psychoanalysts suggest a similar conflict for preschool girls, referred to as the
Electra complex; it is essentially the reverse of the situation for boys: love and desire for father,
resentment for mother.

According to psychoanalytic theory, these complexes become so severe and anxiety-producing

that the child’s unconscious must resolve them using a defense mechanism. The solution is for
the child to begin to identify with the same-sexed parent. The child begins to internalize the
personality of the same-sexed parent, thereby relieving the anxiety and vicariously winning the
love of the opposite-sexed parent. For a little boy, being like daddy means no longer having to
fear and resent him, and it also means getting mommy’s love through daddy. For a little girl, it
means winning daddy’s love by being like mommy. This process is called identification with
the aggressor; sometimes simply known as identification. The result is that children begin to
internalize the values, morals (the superego), traits, attitudes, and behaviors of their parents.

In fact, in 1925, Freud concluded that he had been wrong about penis envy in young girls and
theorized that the Oedipal struggle for girls, as well as for boys, centered on love for the mother.
As you can imagine, this remains a controversial idea among psychoanalysts.

4. Latency: After resolving the Oedipal conflict through identification (at about the age of six),
children enter a stage during which sexual urges are dormant or resting. The term latent means
that something is present or has potential without being active or evident. During this stage,
sexual urges are taking a recess; they are at a minimum. From about the ages of 6 to 12, boys
typically stick together and say that they do not like girls, or they act squeamish around girls.
Similarly, girls during this stage are highly critical of boys, are shy around them, and avoid them.
Apparently, the demands of the previous stage and the Oedipal drama were so overwhelming
that the unconscious needs a bit of a rest.

5. Genital: This final of the psychosexual stages arises during adolescence when teenagers begin
again to show sexual interests. This stage leads to adult affection and love. If all has gone well in
the previous stages, Freud theorized, interest during adolescence is on heterosexual relationships.
This is a time of exploring pleasure through more mature love and affection.

Psychoanalytic theory is not totally a scientific or empirical theory that can be tested to
determine its veracity. It is probably best to treat psychoanalytic theory as a series of interesting
stories with plots and characters. Whether these stories are good or not depends on the extent to
which they provide a deeper and better understanding of human personality development. Some
of Freud’s concepts have met that test—for example, the unconscious, repression, the importance
of childhood sexuality, and the influence of parenting on the child’s personality. It is hard to
deny the basic tenets of psychoanalytic theory: The unconscious can influence our behaviors and
our personality, things that happen in childhood plant the seeds for adult personality
development, traumatic events in childhood can have lasting effects on our personalities, and the
sexual drive is an important factor in our lives that can influence our personality.

On the other hand, many of Freud’s ideas are not supported by research and observation. His
theory provides some provocative ideas about the course of human development and the causes
of behaviors, but these often fail when put to an empirical test.

DEFENSE MECHANISMS(Mental Protection)

Psychoanalytic theory suggests that there are other ways in which our unconscious protects us
besides by repression. These protective devices of the unconscious are known as defense
mechanisms. At the center is the unconscious and its biological drive to protect us from what is
threatening. Defense mechanisms protect us from anxiety and threats. In that sense, they are
useful and good. However, they can go too far and take us into abnormality. When defense
mechanisms become extreme, they cause more problems than they solve. A person might then
develop symptoms of mental disturbance. Freud proposed a clinical therapy to deal with those
instances, as noted above, a therapy known as psychoanalysis.

The essence of this approach is to reveal the contents of the unconscious to the patient so that he
or she can see that there is nothing to be afraid of. This, Freud said, will result in a disappearance
of the symptoms.

Here are some examples.

Rationalization: Sometimes our unconscious makes up a good-sounding reason to explain

something we don’t like. If we fail a test, we blame it on others. If our favorite candidate doesn’t
win the election, we say that it’s for the best anyway. If we don’t complete an assignment, we
think the teacher was unfair to have given the assignment. “Sour grapes” is another example—if
we don’t get something we want, we find something wrong with it and convince ourselves we’re
better off without it. Rationalizing protects us from the anxiety of seeing ourselves as deficient.
This is a common defense mechanism because of the importance placed on giving good reasons
for things. However, this is not rational, it is rationalizing. Being rational means being objective.
In rationalization, our mind protects us with a reason that only sounds good; it is not objective, it
just seems to be. Our mind is trying to help us out!

Projection: In this case, when we have some thoughts or feelings that we consider to be wrong
or upsetting, we project them onto other people instead of on ourselves. If I believe that a certain
attitude or feeling that I have is terribly wrong, I will claim that others have it. A person who
wants to use illegal drugs but who believes that it would make him a horrible person might
expect everyone else to want to use illegal drugs. This defense mechanism deflects the anxiety
away from us and onto others. Many of the predictions that a person makes about someone else
are, in fact, true about the person making the prediction. Be careful what you say about others, it
might be true about you! If a man says that he believes people lie on their resumes, perhaps it’s
an indication that he has an inclination to lie on his resume. Is he simply being objective? Or is
he saying people lie because his unconscious knows he would act that way? That would be
projection.

Sublimation: We sublimate if we redirect or rechannel our undesirable emotions and thoughts

into a socially acceptable activity. If I am full of rage and horrible thoughts, I might vigorously
wash my car. Many people sublimate by pouring their emotions into works of art. The famous
painter Vincent van Gogh is the example that is most often given. His mental and emotional
distress seems evident in the vivid colors, thick paint, and forceful brushstrokes of his paintings.
We can imagine van Gogh’s moods merely by looking at his paintings. Many famous composers
and poets also are good examples of this defense mechanism. Their mental anguish is redirected
into wonderful works of art. There is a long list of composers and poets who suffered from
depression and bipolar disorder. That is a tragedy, but one that provided us with a world of music
and literature. Through sublimation, unpleasant mental energy is redirected into acceptable work.
Reaction formation: Sometimes people’s mental and emotional energy is so threatening that
they adopt the reverse—the opposite—of what they really want. A person who believes that
drinking alcohol is a terrible sin yet who has a desire to drink alcohol might be protected by
reaction formation. In this case, the person’s unconscious adopts a hatred of alcohol. The person
might join groups that protest alcohol use and might attempt to pass laws against drinking
alcohol. She becomes vociferous, wildly critical of alcohol. We might say, paraphrasing
Shakespeare, that she protests too much. If a man believes that being gay is a horrible thing yet
feels attracted to other men, he might express a deep hatred of gays and attempt to harm them. In
reaction formation, a person’s unconscious takes on the beliefs that are opposite of the true
desires, those repressed in the unconscious. This protects the conscious part of the mind from
what the unconscious considers to be awful.

Displacement: Freud suggested this defense mechanism to explain how a person’sunconscious

wishes could appear in dreams but in disguise. A woman whois angry with her brother Tom
might dream that she harms a noisy tomcat. Herconscious will not be aware of the connection
between the names. Her anger isdisplaced onto a symbol of her brother. This defense mechanism
is often used toexplain behaviors outside of dreams; for instance, when a person’s displeasure
isdirected toward some object other than the source of the displeasure (for example,if an
employee displaces his anger toward his boss onto his wife, a subordinate,or his dog).

Denial: This defense mechanism is a primitive form of repression. In thisinstance, a person

simply denies things that produce anxiety. The term isoften used today in referring to people who
have obvious problems withalcohol, drugs, or relationships but refuse to accept that those
problems exist.

Regression: Under conditions of severe trauma or stress, a person might revert

todevelopmentally earlier forms of behavior and thinking. This is known as regression.A person
who is under significant stress, for example, might begin suckinghis or her thumb. Freudian
theory argues that regression provides a person withfeelings of security and calm when under
threatening conditions.

NEO-FREUDIANS PESPECTIVES

Freud’s ideas have been controversial. The neo-Freudians differed from Freud ona number of
issues. Some of the key theorists who are included in this categoryare listed below.

Carl Jung: Collective Unconscious

Carl Jung (1875–1961) was one of the first prominent analysts tobreak away from Freud. Jung
worked with Freud in the earlystages of his career, and was viewed by him as the disciple
whowould carry on the Freudian tradition. But Jung saw humans asbeing guided as much by
aims and aspirations as by sex andaggression.

To distinguish his approachfrom classic psychoanalysis,Jung named it analytical

psychology(1951). A basic assumptionof his theory is thatpersonality consists of
competingforces and structureswithin the individual that must be balanced. Unlike Freud,
heemphasized conflicts between opposing forces within the individual,rather than between the
individual and the demands ofsociety, or between the individual and reality.

Jung was opposed to the central role of sex and aggression in human life. Insteadhe proposed
that people are motivated by more general psychological energy. Heproposed that the deepest
part of one’s psyche comprises the collectiveunconscious. It is a set of influences inherited from
our family and the human race.The collective unconscious contains archetypes which are the
mental images of aparticular person, object or experience. Hero, powerful father, innocent
child,nurturant mother are example of archetypes.

Karen Horney: Basic Anxiety

Karen Horney (1885–1952) was another disciple of Freud whodeveloped a theory that deviated
from basic Freudian principles.Horney adopted a more optimistic view of human life,
emphasizinghuman growth and self-realization. She concentrated onearly childhood
development, and her work formed the basis ofmuch later work in this area.One of Horney’s
major contributions was her challenge toFreud’s treatment of women. She countered that, in the
earlypart of the twentieth century, women were more likely to beaffected by social and cultural
oppression than the absence of apenis.

Horney emphasized on the importance of social relationships in personalitydevelopment. Basic

anxiety refers to the feeling of a child of being isolated andhelpless in a potentially hostile world.

Alfred Adler: Feelings of Inferiority and Superiority

Adler proposed that the central human motive is that of striving for superiority. Itarises from
feelings of inferiority that are experienced during infancy and childhoodDuring this period the
child is helpless and depends on others for help and support.The psychoanalytic ideas have been
criticized on the ground that there is inadequateevidence to support the theory

Strengths of the Psychoanalytic theory

• The view that some of our behaviour is influenced by motives of which we are unaware.
• Psychoanalytic theories suggest that personality is determined by past and present
experiences.
• Personality can be better understood by examining it developmentally, but only if the
approach takes into account the reality of the human person, intelligent and endowed with
the willpower and able to correct character deviations from possible negative childhood
experiences. It is not beyond his human ability to do this.
• Emphasis on conflict and anxiety imply the need to examine one’s own dark side of
things and recognize that adjustment is not always easy, but possible.
• It stimulated study in sexual behaviour and psychosomatic research though this has
tended to blow it out of proportion in human life.
• Demonstrated the importance of early experiences in influencing behaviour in later years.
 • Contributed to emergence of formal psychological therapy.
• Has influenced the work of artists, writers and film-makers on issues related to.
personality and especially the behaviour of people.
• The theories provide a lot of ideas and vocabulary used in understanding and resolving
conflicts.
• They have made some contribution to the study and understanding of personality,
adjustment, defense mechanisms and therapy.
Limitations
• Psychoanalytic concepts are not easy to research on as it is difficult to translate them into
testable hypotheses. One of Freud theory’s fundamental defect is the evaluation of the
observations according to previous devised schemes. Therefore, one is not working
scientifically, but simply constructing hypothesis upon hypothesis. The concepts are
inferred and interpreted rather than tested or observed.
• Most of data based on this theory comes from therapists’ subjective evaluation of clients.
• Other data is collected by the clients making recollections of their experiences in early
childhood.
• Too much emphasis on early childhood experiences and family influence. However,
other psychologists have demonstrated that we have the capacity for change, adaptation
and improvement throughout our lives.
• There is serious objection to the overuse of the importance of sexuality in controlling
behaviour as if a person is a mere animal driven by instinct without any self-control.
• There is also objection to the view that’ behaviour is influenced to some extent, by the
unconsci9us mind. However, in real life people think and decide what they want to do.
• The emphasis on conflict and anxiety can lead us to dwell too much on our negative
aspects even when they are transitory experiences without much importance.
• In Freud, the person is mostly seen as a sexual being, devoid of spiritual faculties,
intellect and will, and basically, without freedom.
Some of Freud’s colleagues disagreed strongly that sexual needs were paramount in shaping
one’s behaviour. They are referred to as Neo- Freudians. The best known are Alfred Adler and
Carl Jing.

How can you make use of psychoanalytic theory?

(a) Find out as much background information on children as possible as this may help you
understand them better.
(b) Try to understand yourself, to maintain your mental health and ensure healthy
relationship with children, parents and other teachers.
(c) Be warm towards children and provide love and affection to facilitate healthy personality
development.
(d) Encourage children to express themselves, their feelings and concerns so that they can
reduce anxieties and discomfort.
(e) Let children know that feelings are natural and others experience such feelings.
 (f) Help children to learn to use their ego and superego in decision- making especially where
this sometimes involves fighting the id to avoid need of immediate gratification.
(g) Train children to use the ego and superego in acquisition of values, strong character and
morals.
(h) Use the knowledge of defense mechanisms to understand if children are overusing
defense mechanisms, which could be a sign of behaviour problems.
(i) Protect children from painful and traumatic experiences during their early childhood
years as these may interfere with their proper development and adjustment in later years.

How you can help children avoid fixation

Oral stage
Breastfeed the child and do not wean the child too early so that the child has adequate time to
form strong attachment and bonding with you. This helps the child to develop trust in self, others
and the world around him/her.
Anal stage
Start training the child when you observe that the child is ready. He! she can follow instructions
and has language (one or two words) to be able to express his/her need to go to the toilet. Do not
be too strict during toilet training and accept accidents as a matter of fact. If you train the child
too early or if you become too strict the child might develop feelings of guilt and fear of soiling
self as he/she grows up. Gentle corrections help the child.
Phallic stage
Avoid punishing the child for touching his/her sex organs, asking questions about sex organs or
showing curiosity such as if they too are like him/her. Keep the children busy with activities and
play materials. Also give the child enough attention so as to divert the child’s interest in touching
sex organs although this is a rare tendency. Tell children that we cover our sex organs and take
good care of them because they are very important.
Latency period
Let children engage in play and activities with children of the same sex. Encourage children to
work hard in academic work and give them responsibilities. Children take a lot of pride when
they do well in school, participate in games and sports; and are given other responsibilities.
Genital stage
Puberty marks the entry to adolescence. Hormonal change experienced during adolescence lead
to maturation in sexual characteristics. New sexual feelings emerge and the adolescent needs to
develop physically, mentally and psychologically. Parents and teachers should understand that
adolescents are again searching for self-identity. They want to be independent but at times they
are also dependent. Parents and teachers should know when adolescents are just asserting their
independence and when they are rebellious and disobedient. Adolescents also need to build
healthy relationship with peers of the same and opposite sex. Good relationships with adults,
their understanding and support will ensure adolescents develop positive self-identity. This will
enable adolescents build mature and healthy love relationships and to function independently as
adults in society.
PSYCHOSOCIAL APPROACH

Similar to Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Unlike Freud’s
theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across
the whole lifespan.

One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego
identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction.
According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experience and
information we acquire in our daily interactions with others.

In addition to ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence also motivates
behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in
an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery. If the stage is
managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy. In each stage, Erikson
believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s
view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to
develop that quality. During these times, the potential for personal growth is high, but so is the
potential for failure.
Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust
• The first stage of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and
one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life.
• Because an infant is utterly dependent, the development of trust is based on the
dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers.
• If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world.
 Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to
feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear
and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.
Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during
early childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control.
• Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However,
Erikson's reasoning was quite different then that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning
to control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence.
• Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences,
and clothing selection.
• Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who
do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt.
Psychosocial Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt
• During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the
world through directing play and other social interaction.
 • Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others. Those who
fail to acquire these skills are left with a sense of guilt, self-doubt, and lack of initiative.
Psychosocial Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority
• This stage covers the early school years from approximately age 5 to 11.
• Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their
accomplishments and abilities.
• Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling
of competence and belief in their skills.
• Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents, teachers, or peers will doubt
their ability to be successful.
Psychosocial Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion
• During adolescence, children are exploring their independence and developing a sense of
self.
• Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal
exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of
independence and control.
• Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will insecure and confused about
themselves and the future.
Psychosocial Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation
• This stage covers the period of early adulthood when people are exploring personal
relationships.
• Erikson believed it was vital that people develop close, committed relationships with
other people. Those who are successful at this step will develop relationships that are
committed and secure.
• Remember that each step builds on skills learned in previous steps. Erikson believed that
a strong sense of personal identity was important to developing intimate relationships.
Studies have demonstrated that those with a poor sense of self tend to have less
committed relationships and are more likely to suffer emotional isolation, loneliness, and
depression.

Psychosocial Stage 7 - Generativity vs. Stagnation

• During adulthood, we continue to build our lives, focusing on our career and family.
• Those who are successful during this phase will feel that they are contributing to the
world by being active in their home and community. Those who fail to attain this skill
will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world.
Psychosocial Stage 8 - Integrity vs. Despair
• This phase occurs during old age and is focused on reflecting back on life.
• Those who are unsuccessful during this phase will feel that their life has been wasted and
will experience many regrets. The individual will be left with feelings of bitterness and
despair.
• Those who feel proud of their accomplishments will feel a sense of integrity.
Successfullycompleting this phase means looking back with few regrets and a general
 feeling ofsatisfaction. These individuals will attain wisdom, even when confronting
death.

Strengths of psychosocial theory

• Emphasis on the individual’s unique life history as worthy of study and understanding.
• Support for the clinical method which synthesizes information from a variety of sources
to build a complete picture of the individual’s personality.
 • Inspired research in social and emotional development, for example, attachment,
aggression, sibling relationships, child rearing practices, adolescent identity, gender roles.
• Emphasis on the importance of contributing for the welfare of others in society.
• His concept of self-identity is helpful in understanding
• adolescents.
• His theory helps us focus on lifelong development.
• Limitations of Erikson’s theory
• Some researchers and psychologists say that his stages are too rigid. The critics say that
the developmental tasks such as trust, independence, initiative are not of special
significance at different life stages but are interwoven in every stage.
• The order of stages proposed by Erikson have not been scientifically documented.
Application of Erikson’s theory in ECDE classes
• Bonding or attachment between parents and infants help them to develop a sense of
security which helps them to venture into social interactions. When such infants grow up
they are able to trust others. They make friends easily.
• Encourage children’s independence. Train them from early in life to acquire self-care and
other skills so that they are able to do things for themselves. This helps them to be
independent and to feel good about themselves and develop self-esteem.
• Encourage initiative in young children. Allow children to choose activities and to carry
out their plans. Provide materials and encourage social play.
• Promote industry especially in primary school. Encourage children to find out things on
their own to satisfy their curiosity and motivation to master tasks. Be firm in requiring
pupils to be productive but be tolerant of mistakes. Encourage hard work and
achievement of goals.
• Stimulate identity exploration ill adolescence. Help adolescence to explore goals and
opportunities in careers, intellectual achievement, hobbies, sports, music, clubs and peer
groups. Encourage adolescents to think independently and to take responsibility of the
consequences of their actions
• Train children and adolescents to do things for others, and ,to contribute to the well-
being of others, school and society.
• Examine your life to identify any personal conflicts and Find ways of making yourself a
well adjusted model of what you encourage your pupils to practice.

BEHAVIORAL APPROACH

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory was the first modern theory of personality and, as was shown
above, had great influence and many adherents. However, psychoanalytic theory also had
numerous detractors. Chief among the critics of psychoanalytic theory was a young American
psychologist named John B. Watson (1878–1958), who believed that psychology should
eschew the subjective study of the mind and instead should embrace scientific methodology and
empirical research. Watson initiated a revolution in thinking about psychology, creating a new
school of thought called behaviorism. Watson was joined by a large number of psychologists
who also believed that psychology should reject the mental and unconscious ideas of Freud and
others and that psychology should focus on the scientific exploration of overt, observable
behavior.

Searching for Laws

The behaviorists were like physicists attempting to uncover the fundamental natural laws of
behavior, one experiment at a time, while ignoring the mind altogether. Their leader was B. F.
Skinner (1904–1990), a brilliant experimentalist who eventually equaled, or even surpassed,
Freud in influencing the course of psychology. Skinner performed many experiments on lower
animals, discovering the basic laws of animal action, and wrote many books. He was an ethical
person, a hard worker, a good husband and father, and a brilliant scientist.

Unfortunately, because many people did not like the results that Skinner found in his
experiments, they criticized him unfairly. Skinner suffered the same complaints that Socrates,
Galileo, and Darwin did. Because their ideas challenged common views, people who didn’t like
the message often attacked the messengers. Skinner was often asked whether he thought about
himself the same way that he thought about his research animals. It’s likely that this question
was not meant in all fairness, because Skinner’s research animals were lower animals such as
rats and pigeons. But Skinner took the question seriously and in 1983 responded somewhat
proudly and defiantly: “The answer is yes. So far as I know, my behavior at any given moment
has been nothing more than the product of my genetic endowment, my personal history, and the
current setting.” This is a good summary of the behaviorist view of personality. Personality is
defined as behavior, and behavior has three causes: genetics, personal history, and the current
setting.

The Basics of Behaviorism

First, notice from Skinner’s response that he answered the question with reference to behavior. A
psychoanalyst, by contrast, would have responded to this question with reference to the
unconscious. When questioned about personality, behaviorists think first of behavior. Second,
notice that Skinner does not ignore genetics. It is often said that behaviorism does not give any
regard to heredity. This quotation from the leading behaviorist shows that the suggestion is
incorrect. Next, note that Skinner credits the current setting as a contributing factor. This portion
of answer refers to situationism, the notion that circumstances around us at any given moment
can influence how we act. Finally, Skinner mentions personal history. This needs some
explanation.

When behaviorists speak of personal history, they are not referring to the kind of events that
Freud and the psychoanalysts believed were important in personality formation, such as the
traumatic, aggressive, and sexual events that become stored in a child’s unconscious. When they
speak of personal history, behaviorists are not referring to the mind at all. What they mean is that
each person has experiences in his or her environment, most importantly experiences with
people, experiences that by means of reinforcement and other laws of behavior influence the
person’s disposition to act a certain way. For instance, if a child’s outgoing behavior is
reinforced, then that behavior will become more common. Similarly, if a child has unpleasant
experiences around animals, then that child may come to dislike animals. A child who
consistently receives praise for acting cooperatively or generously will begin to act cooperatively
or generously in similar situations in the future, depending on the circumstances and on
hereditary variables. By personal history, behaviorists mean the reinforcing events that each of
us has experienced in our pasts. Behaviorists theorize that personality is behavior and that
behavior is shaped mostly by our experiences in the environment. Behaviors that are successful
or that lead to pleasure will become more frequent. Behaviors that fail or that lead to
unpleasantness will become less frequent. These considerations are modulated by the constraints
of heredity and situationism.

The cornerstone idea of behaviorism is that behavior is learned and that behavior might or might
not be consistent from one situation to another. If extraverted behavior is reinforced in one set of
conditions but not in another, the person will come to demonstrate extraverted behavior in
situations that are similar to the first but not in situations similar to the second. Skinner’s answer
provides us with the fundamental argument made by behaviorism: As far as we know, a person’s
behavior at any moment is the result of (1) his or her heredity, (2) the situation he or she is in,
and (3) that person’s previous experiences in the environment. Please note that one very
optimistic thing about behaviorism is the idea that if behaviors are in fact learned, they can also
be unlearned.

Social Learning Theory

Behaviorism is technically not so much a coherent theory of personality as it is a collection of

experimental research findings that suggest certain principles of personality formation.
Behaviorism is not so much a theory as it is an extrapolation of experimental findings. Its
principal teachings are based on the results of scientific research. All behaviorist explanations of
personality embrace situationism. The focus of behaviorism is not on the personal characteristics
of people, but on how people behave in various situations.

Behaviorists do not talk about traits; they talk about actions. Personality, in the context of
behaviorism, is the sum of the actions a person takes in different circumstances. Some followers
of behaviorism have proposed theoretical models based on the experimental research findings
that are at the core of this school of psychology. These theoriesare often called social learning
theories because they emphasize the importance of social settings (interactions with people), and
the significance of learning as the key component of personality development. Behaviorism
defines personality as the different behaviors that a person engages in and argues that these
behaviors have been learned, primarily through interactions with parents, family members,
teachers, and others.

Observational Learning
One of the fundamental principles of social learning theory is that humans learn many of their
behaviors not through their own direct experiences with the world, but by observing others.
Certainly, babies learn to speak and understand words not by any formal training, but by the
constant, little by little, trial-and-error process of listening and pronouncing. When behaviors are
learned via seeing or listening, this process is called observational learning. One of the leading
social learning theorists, Albert Bandura, has proposed that observational learning is a key
component of human personality development. Bandura was the lead researcher in an important
and influential experiment that demonstrated that observational learning could affect even
children watching movies.

Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961) showed children a movie in which an adult hit and punched a
blow-up Bobo-the-clown doll in rather distinctive ways. For example, the adult knelt atop the
doll and hit it in the face with a wooden mallet. After the children watched the movie, they were
sent to a room to play—a room full of many toys, including a Bobo-the-clown doll. Cameras
recorded the children’s behavior in the room. As you might have guessed, the children ran
directly to the doll and began hitting it and punching it in precisely the same distinctive manner
that the adult had used in the movie.

The results were stunning—observational learning was far more powerful than anyone had
imagined. Thousands of similar experiments have been done since that seminal study, and these
studies have consistently shown the same results. For instance, Dutton (2000) reported that
abusive adults were likely to have witnessed abuse as a child.

Behaviorist theories have incorporated the powerful influence of observational learning into their
explanations of personality formation. On the basis of the extensive research on this topic, Albert
Bandura expressed his belief that “Most human behavior is learned by observation through
modeling.”

Behaviorism’s Tenets

The basic tenets of behaviorism are fairly simple, though the details may not be. Here are the
fundamental theoretical beliefs of behaviorism:

1. Personality is an abstract, hypothetical concept that is best conceptualized as the sum of a

person’s behaviors in various situations. Personality should be viewed not as part of the
mind, but as observable behavior.
2. Behaviors should be studied empirically to determine the precise variables within the
world of experience (the environment) that influence and shapepersonalities. Psychology
must be a scientific enterprise.
3. Mental variables (the mind) are not proper subjects of scientific inquiry andfurthermore
are not elements that influence behavior. Skinner said, “Thepractice of looking inside the
organism for an explanation of behavior hastended to obscure the variables which are
immediately available for a scientificanalysis. These variables lie outside the organism, in
 its immediate environmentand in its environmental history. The objection to inner states
isnot that they do not exist, but that they are not relevant” (Skinner, 1953).
4. People are born neither good nor bad, but are shaped by their experiences.Each person
has hereditary factors that influence his or her development,but the primary forces of
personality development are the events that happento people in their lives.
5. Behaviors are developed predominantly via learning. Learning occurs mainlythrough the
processes of reinforcement and observation. Behaviors that arelearned under one set of
conditions might not be learned under a differentset of conditions; therefore, personality
might be inconsistent from one situationto another.

HUMANISTIC APPROACH

These theories are developed by two psychologists—Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Humanistic theories emphasise the importance of people’s subjective attitudes, feelings and
beliefs especially with regard to self. Roger’s theory focuses on the impact of disparity between a
person’s perceived real self and his ideal self that is, ‘how I am and how I would like to be’.
Maslow focuses on the significance of self-actualization.

Humanistic theories believe that each person is potential enough to be creative and responsible,
he is free to choose his destiny and every individual strives to fulfill his need for self-
actualization or realizing his/her fullest potential.

A. Abraham Maslow

The Inner Drives

Maslow was critical of psychoanalytic theory because it focused on the abnormal personality and
had little to say about the normal, healthy personality. Maslow argued that psychology should
give more attention to the highest and most affirming of human personality qualities, things like
love, self-esteem, and creativity. Maslow wrote, “It is as if Freud has supplied to us the sick half
of psychology and we must now fill it out with the healthy half” (Maslow, 1998).

Additionally, Maslow believed that a personality theory should be centered on the conscious, not
the unconscious, mind. He argued that human personality is primarily a matter of making
conscious choices and rational decisions that are guided by our desire for excellence and
fulfillment. Maslow wanted the aware mind to take center stage in a theory of personality.

Just as he was critical of psychoanalytic theory, Maslow also criticized the basic tenets of
behaviorism. Personality theories should emphasize human qualities, not the behavior of lower
animals, he reasoned. Personality theories should focus on the inner life (feelings and thoughts)
of the individual, not on a person’s overt behaviors. Maslow did not believe that taking a
scientific approach to personality was important. For him, personality should focus on the
subjective mental life of people—emotions, thoughts, attitudes, and the conscious mind. Maslow
carefully began to build a third approach to personality, the approach now known as humanism
or humanistic psychology.
Humans are viewed as having free will and therefore being capable of making free choices in a
world of possibilities. The main topic of interest in existentialism is the purpose of life—finding
meaning in the world of experience. Humans are viewed as fallible, rational, suffering, and
driven. Up against the many problems of life, a person must select the path that will take him or
her to a place of inner satisfaction. A person must make the choices that will lead to fulfillment
and meaning.

In humanism, the focus is on how a person perceives the world. Scientific objectivity is useless,
the humanistic psychologists argue, because what matters is the person and his or her
perspective. What humanists care about is a person’s private, personal, subjective view—his or
her feelings, thoughts, perceptions, and concerns. This is what is real and important. It doesn’t
matter what the objective situation is. What matters is how the person perceives it and feels
about it. The focus is on the person—the inner, conscious life of the person.

Remember, the central theme of psychoanalytic theory is the unconscious and the central theme
of behaviorism is learning. For humanistic psychology, there is no more important idea than self-
actualization. Theoretically, this is the highest human motivation, the most advanced drive of
humans, the ultimate end of our inner personality and our attempt to understand ourselves. Self-
actualization is a process of self-fulfillment, of finding our true inner self, of becoming true to
our inner identity. Maslow said, “What a man can be, he must be” (Maslow, 1998). Erich Fromm
said, “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The
most important product of his effort is his own personality” (Fromm, 1962). For humanistic
psychologists, selfactualization is the struggle of a lifetime that we all experience: the struggle to
find a personality that fits, that is right and true to our inner desires and needs. Maslow
hypothesized that self-actualization, although the ultimate goal of the human personality, could
not be satisfactorily achieved unless other drives and needs were mostly fulfilled first. These
other needs are called prepotent, because they must be mostly fulfilled in order to concentrate
on higher ones. Maslow placed human needs and motivations into five categories and then
arranged them in a hierarchy that is often referred to as Maslow’s pyramid of needs.
According to humanistic psychology, a person must fulfill the lower, prepotent needs to a certain
level in order to move up the pyramid and work on satisfying the higher needs. We cannot
become creative and intellectually fulfilled if we are starving to death. We must be accepted and
loved and feel that we belong in order to develop a sense of healthy self-esteem. And, of course,
we cannot make a successful journey of selfactualization unless all of our lower, prepotent needs
are satisfactorily met.

B. Carl Rogers

Focus on Self

One of Maslow’s colleagues and collaborators in humanistic psychology was a counseling

psychologist named Carl Rogers (1902–1987) who developed an influential theory of
personality centered on the idea of self-concept. Rogers’s theory is quite often known as self
theory. This approach emphasizes conditions of worth, valuing people, and the selfactualizing
tendency.

Rogers theorized that each person has an inner concept of what she or he ideally would like to be
—an ideal self. This is your conception of what kind of person, what kind of personality, would
be perfect for you. Also, it is theorized that each of us has an inner concept of what we are really
like—a real self. This is your conception of what kind of person, what kind of personality, is
actually true about you—what you are really like. The drive of self-actualization, then, is the
striving to merge these two concepts. Self-actualization is the ongoing attempt to make your real
self congruent with your ideal self, to bring the concept of what you are actually like (your real
self) more and more into accord with what you think you should be like (your ideal self).
Rogers proposed a style of counseling that included many therapeutic techniques intended to
help people along their journey of selfactualization. These counseling techniques are widely used
today and are known by several terms, including Rogerian, person-centered, client-centered,
and nondirective. The essence of Rogers’s counseling style is to help clients (notice that they are
not called patients) with the process of self-discovery. That is, the counselor helps a client to
become aware of his or her true inner self, the true personality of feelings and selfconcept. Then
the client must come to accept his or her true feelings and personality and to embrace the inner
self. The client should then be ready to take the necessary steps to fulfill his or her inner needs
and to bring the world of experience into line with the inner self-concept.

Humanism’s Tenets

The fundamental tenets of humanism are as follows:

1. Every person exists in a continually changing world of experience of which he or she is

the center. A person is the best source of information about himself or herself.
2. A person reacts to the world of experience according to his or her own perceptions,
interpretations, and feelings.
3. A person acts as a whole, integrated organism, not with a series of simple stimulus-
response reactions.
4. A person’s one basic striving is to maintain and actualize the self. The self-concept is at
the center of the personality.
5. The structure of the self is created by experiences in the world and through interactions
with others. The self is the organized pattern of perceptions, values, and emotions that
create the concept of “I” or “me.”
6. Behavior is a goal-directed activity meant to satisfy needs. A person adopts ways of
acting that are consistent with the concept of the self. Therefore, the best way to change
behavior is to change the self-concept.
7. Experiences that are not consistent with the concept of self are threatening. Psychological
maladjustment occurs if a person denies awareness to experiences and does not allow
them into the self-concept. Humans seek congruence between their world of experience
and their self-concepts. When there is incongruence, abnormality results. Self-
actualization is the process of building congruence between our experiences in the world
and our sense of self.

How can you make use of humanistic theories in the learning situation?
a) Ensure that children’s basic needs for adequate and balanced diet; adequate and safe
water for drinking and cleaning; appropriate clothing and clean environment are met.
b) Encourage the school administration, parents and the community to organize school or
ECDE centre feeding programmes.
c) Ensure that the psychological needs for safety and security both at home and school are
met. Parents should protect their children from dangers. Teachers should ensure that
methods of nurturing discipline are child-friendly and educative. Do not cane, abuse or
 humiliate children as this destroys their self-esteem and could turn them into bullies.
Make children feel loved and accepted unconditionally.
d) Use child-centered methods that involve children actively and respect their ability to
solve many problems on their own. This teaches children to be independent and to have
positive self- esteem.
e) The ultimate aim of education is to produce a good and responsible person. You should
therefore help each child to realize her full potential in this regard. You should recognise
individual differences and help children develop their unique gifts and abilities.
f) Help children to identify their goals in life early, help them obtain information and
acquire good moral and intellectual habits or virtues, skills and attitudes that will help
them realize their goals as persons.

TRAIT THEORIES – ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY

Traits – or descriptors used to label personality – have their origins in the ways we describe
personality in everyday language. In the early years of personality theory, many theorists used
the term types to describe differences between people. Sheldon (1954), for example, categorized
people according to three body types (see figure below) and related these physical differences to
differences in personality. Endomorphic body types are plump and round with a tendency to be
relaxed and outgoing. Mesomorphic physiques are strong and muscular, and usually energetic
and assertive in personality. Ectomorphic body types are tall and thin and tend to have a fearful
and restrained personality.

Not only is it unlikely that personality can be mapped to body type, but the idea that all people
can be allocated to a small number of categories is challenged by modern trait theories.
Modern theorists view traits as continuous rather than discrete entities. So, rather than being
divided into categories, people are placed on a trait continuum representing how high or low
each individual is on any particular dimension. The assumption is that we all possess each of
these traits to a greater or lesser degree, and that comparisons can be made between people. For
example, categorizing people into separate groups of ‘sociable’ versus ‘unsociable’ is considered
to be meaningless. Instead, it is considered more useful by trait theorists to determine the amount
of sociability each person exhibits. Personality theorists regard most traits as forming a normal
distribution, so some people will be very high in sociability and others very low, but most people
will be somewhere in the middle.

1. Cattell’s 16 Trait Dimensions

Gordon Allport (1897–1967) made the first comprehensive attempt to develop a framework to
describe personality using traits. Allport and Odbert (1936) used Webster’s (1925) New
International Dictionary to identify terms that describe personality. This work was developed
further by Raymond Cattell (1905– 97)

Like Allport, Cattell believed that a useful source of information about the existence of
personality traits could be found in language, the importance of a trait being reflected in how
many words describe it. Cattell called this the lexical criterion of importance. Building on
Allport’s work, Cattell (1943) collated a set of 4500 trait names from various sources and then
removed obvious synonyms and metaphorical terms, until he reduced these to 171 key trait
names.Cattell’s subsequent investigations yielded three types of data, which he categorized as
follows:

 L-data – life record data, in which personality assessment occurs through interpretation of
actual records of behaviour throughout a person’s lifetime (e.g. report cards, ratings by
friends and military conduct reports);
 Q-data – data obtained by questionnaires (e.g. asking people to rate themselves on
different characteristics); and
 T-data – or objective psychometric test data (e.g. the thematic apperception test).

On the basis of this research, Cattell (1947) developed a model of personality describing 16 trait
dimensions. He then developed a questionnaire to measure these traits (Cattell, Eber&Tastuoka,
1977) called the Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF). Here are the 16 trait
dimensions used in the 16PF.
 2. Eysenck’sSupertraits

Hans Eysenck (1916–97) was a contemporary of Cattell and also used factor analysis to classify
personality traits. But Eysenck (1967) began with a theory of personality which he based on two
supertraits:
 extraversion– introversion and
 neuroticism– stability.
According to this theory, people who are highly extraverted are sociable and outgoing, and crave
excitement and the company of others. People who are highly introverted are quiet and
introspective; they tend to prefer time alone and to be cautious in the way they plan their lives.
People who are highly neurotic tend to be anxious, moody and vulnerable, whereas people who
are low on neuroticism tend to be stable, calm and even-tempered. Eysenck viewed the
supertraits of extraversion and neuroticism as independent, and believed that different
personalities arise from differing combinations of the two supertraits. People who are high in
both neuroticism and extraversion tend to exhibit quite different traits than someone who is low
in both, or a combination of low and high. So people who are high on both extraversion and
neuroticism tend to be touchy and aggressive, whereas people who are high on extraversion and
low on neuroticism tend to be carefree and sociable.

A further supertraitidenti- fied by Eysenck (1982) is psychoticism. People scoring high on

psychoticism are described as: ‘egocentric, aggressive, impersonal, cold, lacking in empathy,
impulsive, lacking in concern for others and generally unconcerned about the rights and welfare
of other people’.

Eysenck’s (1967) hierarchical model divides personality into various units. This allows
personality to be described at a number of different levels – supertraits, traits, habits and actions.
Each supertrait is made up of a number of traits, which are in turn derived from habitual
responses and specific responses (actions).

According to this model, many specific actions make up habitual responses, which are
represented as trait dimensions, which in turn are part of one supertrait. All levels are important
in determining behaviour. Like Cattell, Eysenck developed a questionnaire designed to measure
his supertraits – the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, or EPQ as illustrated below.

3. Five Factors Of Personality

Although trait theories were well established by the 1960s, there was no consensus concerning
the number or nature of the traits that make up personality. Replications of Cattell’s work in
factor analysis often failed to find the original factor structure he described. Instead, a number of
studies using Cattell’s variables came up with a simpler five factor structure. Since then, further
research has confirmed a basic five actor model of personality or ‘Big Five’
Extraversion and neuroticism are defined in the same way as Eysenck defined them. Openness to
experience/intellect refers to receptivity to new ideas and experiences. People low on this trait
prefer the familiar, practical and concrete, whereas those high on this trait are open to new
experience, curious and imaginative. Agreeableness means the extent to which people are
trusting, generous and concerned for others. Those low on agreeableness are viewed as
antagonistic, tough-minded and hard-headed. Conscientiousness relates to organization and
achievement. Highly conscientious individuals are ambitious, hard-working, competent and
organized, and those low in conscientiousness are easy-going, low in self-discipline and not
goal-driven.

While this model presents five categories, it should not be seen as a simplistic generalization of
trait theory. As in Eysenck’s (1967) model, each of the five factors is made up of a number of
more specific traits.

Strengths and Criticisms of Trait Theory

While trait theory may seem logical and strait forward, like any theory on personality, it has both
its good points and its criticisms.

Strengths

Objectivity. Perhaps the biggest strength of trait theory is it's reliance on statistical or objective
data. Unlike many other theories, the subjectivity or personal experience of the theorists play no
role in trait theory. Freud's relationship with his mother could be said to have influencedtheir
theories. In that sense, subjectivity may have biasedtheir ideas. Trait theory has no bias.

Ease of Use and Understanding. Trait theory hasbeen used to develop a number of
assessmentdevices. It provides an easy to understandcontinuum that provides a good deal of
informationregarding a person's personality, interaction, andbeliefs about the self and the world.
Understandingtraits allows us to compare people, to determinewhich traits allow a person to do
better in college, inrelationships, or in a specific career. We can helpguide people toward a more
agreeable future byknowing how they interact with the world.
Criticisms
Poor Predictor of Future Behavior. While we may be ableto say, in general that a person falls on
the high end or lowend of a specific trait, trait theory fails to address aperson's state. A state is a
temporary way of interactingand dealing with the self and others. For example, anintrovert may
be quiet, reserved, intellectual, and calm inmost situations. When around close friends, however,
hemay seem quite outgoing, fun-loving, and excitable. Thesame could be said for the extrovert
who, when presentedwith a job interview, may act more introverted, shy,reserved, and
intellectual.
Does not Address Development. While statistics may be a strength oftrait theory, it may also be
it's biggest criticism. Because it is based onstatistics rather than theory, it provides no
explanation of personalitydevelopment. Where most theories argue for the development
(past),the current personality (present) and provide a means for change(future), trait theory is
stuck in the present.

No Means of Change. Perhaps because trait theory does little to offerideas about trait
development, it also provides little or no guidance inthe changing of negative aspects of a trait.
Without understandinghow a trait develops, how do we then change that trait? Many arguethat
the application of trait theory is significantly reduced because itlacks a means for change.

Importance of knowing children’s personality types and temperaments

(a) Discover children’s strengths and talents and help them to improve them.
(b) Identify children’s weaknesses, accept them and know how to help them to improve on
their weaknesses where possible.
(c) Understand the way children respond to situations.
(d) Allocate activities, duties and responsibilities according to children’s temperaments.
(e) Create a friendly learning environment that respects children’s strengths and weaknesses.
(f) Improve your relationship with children and between children and their families and
peers.
(g) Enhance children’s self-esteem and self-confidence.
(h) Appreciate and respect individual differences in children.
Importance of knowing staff personality types and temperaments
(a) Allocate duties and responsibilities suited to the personalities
(b) To deal with each member of the staff as an individual.
(c) Avoid conflicts.
(d) To build self-esteem.
(e) Improve communication
(f) Good management.
(g) Smooth running of activities.
(h) Understanding staff.
(i) Evaluation and appraisal of staff.
(j) Discover talents and strengths and help staff to improve them.
 (k) Discover the weaknesses of staff and help them to correct them
(l) Create good atmosphere.
(m)Improve achievement and performance
(n) Understand and appreciate individual differences in people.
Before we conclude our discussion on trait and Personality types of people, it is good to observe
that every person is unique and we all have the ability to change our behaviour. Clearly defined
trait Personality types are almost impossible to find. There are usually a mixture of traits. So
people can change through education and personal struggle. Therefore we should avoid attaching
labels to people.
How you can apply the theories in the learning situation
(a) Know the personality type of the children so that you can allocate appropriate activities to
them. Introverted children may prefer to work on their own most of the time while
extroverted children will do well in group activities
(b) Introverted children may need a lot of encouragement to participate in group activities.
(c) Introverted children may also need to be encouraged to express their ideas and feelings
(d) Sometimes extroverted children may dominate others and you may need to redirect their
energies
(e) You should not give children negative labels. Children can behave in certain ways
because of the situation and behave differently in another situation. A child may not show
anxiety if the teacher punishes him but be very anxious if he is sent to the head teacher’s
office.
(f) Identify, understand and accept individual differences in children.
(g) Identify children’s strengths and talents and help them to improve them.
(h) Appreciate individual differences in children. Use different teaching methods to cater for
children’s individual differences. Identify the strengths of children and build on them.
Identify the weaknesses of children and help them to correct them. When correcting
children’s weaknesses, do so in a warm and loving manner.

THE SOCIAL COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Social Cognitive Learning Theorists suggest that observational learning, modeling, and other
cognitive learning techniques can lead to the formation of patterns of personality. They postulate
that behavior is generated by external stimuli, response patterns, and cognitive processes such as
anticipations, judging, memory, and imitation of models

This perspective was developed by Albert Bandura and others joined in later. It views behaviour
as influenced by the interaction between persons and the social context. It is proposed that our
thoughts and actions originate in the social world but it is essential to note that human beings
have capacity for self-regulation and engage in active cognitive processes.
From this theoretical perspective, human functioning is viewed as the product of a dynamic inter
play of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences. For example, how people interpret th
e results of their own behavior informs and alters their environments and the personal factors the
y possess which, in turn, inform and alter subsequent behavior. This is the foundation of Bandura
's (1986) conception of reciprocal determinism, the view that (a) personal factors in the form of c
ognition, affect, and biological events, (b) behavior, and (c) environmental influences create inter
actions that result in a triadic reciprocality. Bandura altered the label of his theory from social lea
rning to social "cognitive" both to distance it from prevalent social learning theories of the day a
nd to emphasize that cognition plays a critical role in people's capability to construct reality, self-
regulate, encode information, and perform behaviors.

Bandura developed the concept of self efficacy which incorporates a person’s cognitive skills,
abilities and attitudes as represented in one’s self-system. Selfefficacy indicates the degree to
which one is convinced of the abilities and effectiveness in meeting the demands of a particular
situation. The theory is based on laboratory research.

Bandura included the concept of observational learning as one of the main theoretical points. He
argued that reinforcement does not simply work as a mechanism, but it is actually the provider of
information of the next reinforcement to be given once the behavior is repeated. Bandura pointed
out that in order for the individual to repeat an agreeable behavior, he must include his
intellectual processes, in contrast with Skiner's belief that thinking only occurs inside a "black
box". In this sense, Bandura agreed that environment causes behavior, but behavior can also
cause environment. This chief concept in his theory is called reciprocal determinism. Bandura's
approach to personality can be gleaned by this situation: Suppose an adolescent shows his
aggressive personality trait because he is maltreated by his peers. When this person expresses his
aggression by way of violent acts, he can trigger either a higher level of aggression or fear inside
his peers' minds, therefore changing his environment.

After theorizing that personality as revealed in his behavior and environment belong to a two-
way process, Bandura later proposed that there is a third factor that must be considered in this
kind of interaction- the person's psychological processes. He said that our capacity to process
language and images and other sensory stimuli in our minds have an effect on how we behave,
how we develop our personality traits, and thus, how we affect our environment. When he
introduced this concept, he became included in the behaviorist-cognitivist circle of
psychologists.

Current Thoughts and Criticisms on Social Cognitive Theory

However, the theory ignores the unconscious factors which may influence behaviour. The theory
also emphasizes the rational side of life while ignoring the emotional side. The cognitive-social
theory brings into focus the role of thought and memory in personality. We often find that the
expectations and skills learned by people are very important in determining behaviours. The
theory has been tested under scientific conditions although the theory does take into account
social and mental processes on one’s behaviour

How can you make use of the social cognitive theory in the learning situation?

(a) You should be a good role model because children will imitate you.
(b) Children will also imitate behaviour which you reinforce and avoid behaviour which is
punished.
(c) Teaching and learning materials should portray good behaviour as they can also influence
children’s behaviour. Children copy some of the behaviours they see in books, posters
and television. Hence the serious responsibility of parents and teachers in guiding
children along the path of good ethical principles.
(d) Provide an atmosphere where children feel accepted and encouraged to achieve so that
their self-esteem and confidence are enhanced. Children who have high self-esteem feel
able and interact well with others.
(e) Train children to think about consequences of their actions and to evaluate situations that
could make them behave in a certain way that is demeaning to their dignity as human
beings.
(f) Train children to evaluate the behaviour of people around them and only copy behaviour
they assess to be good. Good behavior means practising virtues such as telling the truth,
being punctual, orderly, kind, modest in dress, hardworking, loving, etc.
(g) Help the children to know their strengths, talents and what they sire able to do. This will
motivate them to learn and to achieve their goals.

FACTORS INFLUENCING PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The development of personality of an individual takes place in a socio-cultural context. The

particular potentialities with which a child is born may develop or become stunted depending on
the way maturation takes place and the kind of experiences encountered by the person. In the
process of growth and development people develop unique configuration of traits which lead to
individual differences. In this way one finds that personality formation is a complex process
depending upon common and unique experiences on the one hand, and, genetic factors on the
other. It has been indicated that there are stable ways in which specific situation trigger specific
patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour.
1. Genetic factors:
Almost all theorists consider heredity as a major determinant of personality. Some like
Freud, view personality as purely biological. However, others recognize the value of
social and cultural factors. In fact it would be wrong to view the question in either or
manner and give more emphasis to heredity or environment. Studies of behaviour
genetics suggest that most personality variables are 15 to 50 percent inheritable.Body
structure and functioning influence behaviour and personality directly or indirectly. They
can, for example, influence what one can do. Factors such as fatigue, illness and
nutritional status can modify behaviour patterns and learning.
AppearanceOur looks and body appearance can influence our perception and behaviour.
Other people also perceive and treat us differently according to our physical appearance.
For example, if a crime has been committed, people are more likely to suspect lain
looking and poorly dressed man rather than a handsome and well dressed man. Similarly,
we are usually treated by the way we portray ourselves. For example, a woman who
carries herself with dignity and dresses decently, is unlikely to be mistreated by men.
Body structurePersonality is also influenced by body structure. Thin people
(ectomorphs) are said to be anxious, moody, frail, shy and restrained Fat, rounded people
(endomorphs) are said to be warm, kind, cheerful, and relaxed. The strong, muscular
people (mesomorphs) are bold, energetic, assertive, and popular. Mesomorphs and
endomorphs are more likely to be judged and treated favourably, than ectornorphs.
SexSex hormones influence body build, functioning, and behaviour. Androgens give men
stronger body build. Oestrogen gives women more feminine characteristics like soft skin,
high-pitched voice, less physical strength and more attractiveness. The (characteristics
determined by sex are reinforced or modified by the culture, which provides the gender
expectations for girls and boys to behave in certain ways in certain cultures. For example,
women are said to be more emotional than men.
Physical defectsBody defects can also limit what we can do, influence our self concept,
and the way others perceive and treat us. Children with physical defects can become
resentful or develop low self- esteem and self-pity especially if they have been treated
unfairly.
Intellectual factorsIntelligence helps us to make judgments and choices in life. People
who can reason well often make good judgments and are able to make good adjustment
to life situations. A person of very high intelligence can be a loner as she might feel
misunderstood by others. Other people might also consider her difficult to cope with. A
person who has lower than normal intelligence is likely to be considered stupid and be
ignored and isolated. She might be withdrawn or unfriendly.

2. Early experience: Most of the theorists of personality think that personality development
is a continuous process. The early years play very important role in the shaping of
personality. However, the immediate environment and experiences are also found to be of
immense value. Children who are deprived of love are likely to lack trust in other people.
They may become withdrawn or strong attention- seekers. Some may be unable to
 develop deep and meaningful relationships with other people as they are insecure and
suspicious. Emotionally deprived children are likely to become self-centered, selfish, and
may lack initiative. Over protected children can suffer from dependency syndrome and be
poor in making choices in life. Children who are emotionally stable tend to be social,
friendly and happy.

3. Primary groups: While explaining personality development family is found to play a

critical role. The early relationships with members of family are particularly important.
Freud thought that many of the problems during adult life are due to problematic child
rearing practices leading to emotional disturbances. The sense of identity and relevance
of appropriate modeling has been emphasized.Parents sometimes overprotect a disabled
child and this could make the child withdrawn and afraid to participate in activities of
such children however, may compensate by working hard and achieving in other
areas.Parents and other family members play a very important role in influencing
children’s personality because:
 They lay the foundation on which the other agents of socialization build on.
 They handle the children during their most formative years. Whatever they teach
children and the character they mould continues to influence children throughout
life.
 They are the first teachers of children. They are the first to teach the children what
is right and wrong. They also teach ethical values or norms. They equip children
knowledge, skills and attitudes which prepare them to face the challenges of life
both at home and in the outside world.
 They are the first role models of children.
 They instruct them in their religion.

Parents and other family members influence children’s personality through the following

 Modelling Children model most of their parents’ and other family members’
behaviour, practices values, principles,
 likes and dislikes.
 Direct teaching and training. Parents and other family members spend time
teaching and training children so that they acquire knowledge, skills, and attitudes
which help them to live a happy and productive life.
 Interaction and observation Children interact with their parents and other family
members and they observe whatever they db. Unconsciously they acquire new
knowledge, skills and attitudes which influence their Personality development.
They easily copy the behaviour of those they interact with.
 Discipline and Parenting styles influence the Personality development of children.
For example, birth order of a child influences Personality. It appears to shape the
way parents react and treat the child. Firstborns are likely to experience excessive
parental demands and expectations. Children who are born later find a more
permissive and less demanding atmosphere Firstborn5 may become responsible
 hardworking, achievement oriented, and loyal to the family. If overprotected, they
could become over conforming, dependent insecure, and anxious, introverted, and
have low self-esteem Lastborns could become self-centered, selfish, irresponsible
and bossy if their parents are too permissive. They could also lack tolerance to
frustration, spend too much time with friends, have low motivation and not
perform well in school.
The peer group can also influence a child’s personality. A child who associates with rude
and unruly peers can begin to manifest those behaviours even when not in the company
of the peers. A child who associates with intelligent, hard-working, respectful and well-
behaved peers is likely to behave in a similar way. Parents should therefore guide their
children so that they choose the right peers who are likely to have good influence on their
behaviour and character.

4. Culture: People living in one culture often share similar practices, beliefs and values.
The child is expected to learn to behave in the manner expected by the culture. For
instance boys and girls are expected to show different sets of personality characteristics.
The various occupational roles are also shaped by culture. However, the effect of culture
may not be uniform for everyone belonging to that culture because they are transmitted
through different ways and persons and people also have certain unique experiences.

The society’s knowledge, beliefs, skills, customs and norms also contribute to shaping
children’s personality. Children learn through observation, modelling, instruction or
participation in ceremonies and everyday life activities. They internalize values, norms,
attitudes and beliefs and behaviour that is expected of them by the society and culture and
this shapes their personality. The influence of culture on personality can be seen, for
example, in gender socialization. In many communities, girls are trained to be meek,
quiet, obedient and less boisterous than boys. They are allowed to cry when hurt. Boys on
the other hand, are encouraged to be aggressive, adventurous and tough. They are
discouraged from crying when hurt. It is important for parentsto distinguish between
good and bad cultural and traditional heritage; help to do away with the bad ones and
pass on the good ones. Similarly, they should help children adopt the same attitude
towards western values. Some are good while others only lead to erosion of our good
cultural and traditional values.

5. Environment
Religious organizations have their norms , values, rites and traditions that all children
who belong to them are expected to adhere to. These influence children’s personality
development.
Teachers have great influence on children’s personality development because Children
spend many years in school. Whatever knowledge, skills and attitudes teachers pass on to
children influence their personality development.
• Teachers are important role models of children.
• School provides children with the first experiences of dealing with challenges of
life outside the home. In school, children are faced with challenges that they have
never faced before. They must learn how to deal with these challenges. These
include success, failure, competitions and comparisons with others. Teachers need
to train children on how to deal effectively and successfully with these challenges.
• Schools provide the first opportunity outside home for children to learn respect
for authority and obedience of rules and regulations. This is a very important
training for life which influences children’s personality development.
The school and the teachers influence children’s personality development in the
following ways
• Modelling. Teachers are important role models for children. They influence
children’s character, behaviour and view of life. Children are more likely to
model teachers who are warm, friendly, loving, caring, fair and consistent. They
also tend to model teachers who are good in teaching their subjects.
• Direct teaching and training. Schools are specifically meant to impart knowledge,
skills and attitudes that prepare children for their personal lives and for world of
work.
• Interaction and observation. As children interact with teachers and observe them,
they unconsciously acquire new knowledge, skills and attitudes that shape their
lives.
• School ethos, discipline, values, tradition and culture. Every school has its own
ethos, discipline, values, tradition and culture that children enrolled there are
expected to adhere to. A well-organized school environment, with clear
expectations, authoritative leadership, consistent and firm discipline lead to
development of desirable personality traits. Children in such schools where there
is warm, supportive, healthy and friendly environment are usually highly
motivated. They often achieve high standards of academic excellence, discipline
and they are well controlled, cooperative and supportive of one another. Such
children are also more likely to develop personality traits that are useful and
appreciated by the society.
• Reinforcing the good behaviour parents try to instill in their children. When they
work together with parents, they are more effective in shaping the child’s
behaviour and attitude.
 6. Health Status - People adjust well and feel good about themselves when in good
health.Good health ensures that a child is motivated and learns properly. Poor health
can affect one’s mood, emotional status and relationship with others. When someone
contracts some diseases such as HIV and AIDS, he may feel guilty, embarrassed, develop
low self-esteem and withdraw from other people.

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

Personality assessment, the measurement of personal characteristics. Assessment is an end

result of gathering information intended to advance psychological theory and research and to
increase the probability that wise decisions will be made in applied settings (e.g., in selecting the
most promising people from a group of job applicants). The approach taken by the specialist in
personality assessment is based on the assumption that much of the observable variability
in behaviour from one person to another results from differences in the extent to which
individuals possess particular underlying personal characteristics (traits).
The assessment specialist seeks to define these traits, to measure them objectively, and to relate
them to socially significant aspects of behaviour.

A distinctive feature of the scientific approach to personality measurement is the effort, wherever

possible, to describe human characteristics in quantitative terms. How much of a trait manifests
itself in an individual? How many traits are present? Quantitative personality measurement is
especially useful in comparing groups of people as well as individuals. Do groups of people from
different cultural and economic backgrounds differ when considered in the light of their
particular personality attributes or traits? How large are the group differences?

Overt behaviour is a reflection of interactions among a wide range of underlying factors,

including the bodily state of the individual and the effects of that person’s past personal
experiences. Hence, a narrowly focused approach is inadequate to do justice to the complex
human behaviour that occurs under the constantly changing set of challenges, pleasures,
demands, and stresses of everyday life. The sophisticated measurement of human personality
inescapably depends on the use of a variety of concepts to provide trait definitions and entails the
application of various methods of observation and evaluation. Personality theorists and
researchers seek to define and to understand the diversity of human traits, the many ways people
have of thinking and perceiving and learning and emoting. Such nonmaterial human dimensions,
types, and attributes are constructs—in this case, inferences drawn from observed behaviour.
Widely studied personality constructs include anxiety, hostility, emotionality, motivation, and
introversion-extroversion. Anxiety, for example, is a concept, or construct, inferred in people
from what they say, their facial expressions, and their body movements.

Personality is interactional in two senses. As indicated above, personal characteristics can

be thought of as products of interactions among underlying psychological factors; for example,
an individual may experience tension because he or she is both shy and desirous of social
success. These products, in turn, interact with the types of situations people confront in their
daily lives. A person who is anxious about being evaluated might show debilitated performance
in evaluative situations (for example, taking tests), but function well in other situations in which
an evaluative emphasis is not present. Personality makeup can be either an asset or a liability
depending on the situation. For example, some people approach evaluative situations with fear
and foreboding, while others seem to be motivated in a desirable direction by competitive
pressures associated with performance.

Measuring constructs

Efforts to measure personality constructs stem from a variety of sources. Frequently they grow
out of theories of personality; anxiety and repression (the forgetting of unpleasant experiences),
for example, are among the central concepts of the theory of psychoanalysis. It is understandable
that efforts would be made to quantify one’s degree of anxiety, for example, and to use the score
thus obtained in the assessment of and in the prediction of future behaviour. Among the major
issues in the study of personality measurement is the question of which of the many personality
constructs that have been quantified are basic or fundamental and which can be expected to
involve wasted effort in their measurement because they represent poorly defined combinations
of more elemental constructs; which measurement techniques are most effective and convenient
for the purpose of assessment; and whether it is better to interview people in measuring
personality, or to ask them to say, for example, what an inkblot or a cloud in the sky reminds
them of.

Efforts to measure any given personality construct can fail as a result of inadequacies in
formulating or defining the trait to be measured and weaknesses in the assessment methods
employed. An investigator might desire to specify quantitatively the degree to which individuals
are submissive in social and competitive situations. His effectiveness will depend on the
particular theory of submissiveness he brings to bear on the problem; on the actual procedures he
selects or devises to measure submissiveness; and on the adequacy of the research he performs to
demonstrate the usefulness of the measure. Each of these tasks must be considered carefully in
evaluating efforts to measure personality attributes.

The methods used in personality description and measurement fall into several categories that
differ with regard to the type of information gathered and the methods by which it is obtained.
While all should rely on data that come from direct observations of human behaviour if they are
to have at least the semblance of scientific value, all may vary with regard to underlying
assumptions, validity, andreliability (consistency, in this case).

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Personality tests provide measures of such characteristics as feelings and emotional states,
preoccupations, motivations, attitudes, and approaches to interpersonal relations. There is a
diversity of approaches to personality assessment, and controversy surrounds many aspects of
the widely used methods and techniques. These include such assessments as the interview, rating
scales, self-reports, personality inventories, projective techniques, and behavioral observation.
The interview

In an interview the individual under assessment must be given considerable latitude in “telling
his story.” Interviews have both verbal and nonverbal (e.g., gestural) components. The aim of the
interview is to gather information, and the adequacy of the data gathered depends in large part on
the questions asked by the interviewer. In an employment interview the focus of the interviewer
is generally on the job candidate’s work experiences, general and specific attitudes, and
occupational goals. In a diagnostic medical or psychiatric interview considerable attention would
be paid to the patient’s physical health and to any symptoms of behavioral disorder that may
have occurred over the years.

Two broad types of interview may be delineated. In the interview designed for use in research,
face-to-face contact between an interviewer and interviewee is directed toward eliciting
information that may be relevant to particular practical applications under general study or to
those personality theories (or hypotheses) being investigated. Another type, the clinical
interview, is focused on assessing the status of a particular individual (e.g., a psychiatric patient);
such an interview is action-oriented (i.e., it may indicate appropriate treatment). Both research
and clinical interviews frequently may be conducted to obtain an individual’s life history and
biographical information (e.g., identifying facts, family relationships), but they differ in the uses
to which the information is put.

Although it is not feasible to quantify all of the events occurring in an interview, personality
researchers have devised ways of categorizing many aspects of the content of what a person has
said. In this approach, called content analysis, the particular categories used depend upon the
researchers’ interests and ingenuity, but the method of content analysis is quite general and
involves the construction of a system of categories that, it is hoped, can be used reliably by an
analyst or scorer. The categories may be straightforward (e.g., the number of words uttered by
the interviewee during designated time periods), or they may rest on inferences (e.g., the degree
of personal unhappiness the interviewee appears to express). The value of content analysis is that
it provides the possibility of using frequencies of uttered response to describe verbal behaviour
and defines behavioral variables for more-or-less precise study in experimental research. Content
analysis has been used, for example, to gauge changes in attitude as they occur within a person
with the passage of time. Changes in the frequency of hostile reference a neurotic makes toward
his parents during a sequence of psychotherapeutic interviews, for example, may be detected and
assessed, as may the changing self-evaluations of psychiatric hospital inmates in relation to the
length of their hospitalization.

Sources of erroneous conclusions that may be drawn from face-to-face encounters stem from the
complexity of the interview situation, the attitudes, fears, and expectations of the interviewee,
and the interviewer’s manner and training. Research has been conducted to identify, control, and,
if possible, eliminate these sources of interview invalidity and unreliability. By conducting more
than one interview with the same interviewee and by using more than one interviewer to evaluate
the subject’s behaviour, light can be shed on the reliability of the information derived and may
reveal differences in influence among individual interviewers. Standardization of interview
format tends to increase the reliability of the information gathered; for example, all interviewers
may use the same set of questions. Such standardization, however, may restrict the scope of
information elicited, and even a perfectly reliable (consistent) interview technique can lead to
incorrect inferences.

Rating scales

The rating scale is one of the oldest and most versatile of assessment techniques. Rating scales
present users with an item and ask them to select from a number of choices. The rating scale is
similar in some respects to a multiple choice test, but its options represent degrees of a particular
characteristic.

Rating scales are used by observers and also by individuals for self-reporting (see below Self-
report tests). They permit convenient characterization of other people and their behaviour. Some
observations do not lend themselves to quantification as readily as do simple counts of motor
behaviour (such as the number of times a worker leaves his lathe to go to the restroom). It is
difficult, for example, to quantify how charming an office receptionist is. In such cases, one may
fall back on relatively subjective judgments, inferences, and relatively imprecise estimates, as in
deciding how disrespectful a child is. The rating scale is one approach to securing such
judgments. Rating scales present an observer with scalar dimensions along which those who are
observed are to be placed. A teacher, for example, might be asked to rate students on the degree
to which the behaviour of each reflects leadership capacity, shyness, or creativity. Peers might
rate each other along dimensions such as friendliness, trustworthiness, and social skills. Several
standardized, printed rating scales are available for describing the behaviour of psychiatric
hospital patients. Relatively objective rating scales have also been devised for use with other
groups. Rating scales often take the following form:

To what degree is John shy?

not at allslightlymoderatelyveryextremely

A number of requirements should be met to maximize the usefulness of rating scales. One is that
they be reliable: the ratings of the same person by different observers should be consistent. Other
requirements are reduction of sources of inaccuracy in personality measurement; the so-called
halo effect results in an observer’s rating someone favourably on a specific characteristic
because the observer has a generally favourable reaction to the person being rated. One’s
tendency to say only nice things about others or one’s proneness to think of all people as average
(to use the midrange of scales) represents other methodological problems that arise when rating
scales are used.

Self-report tests

The success that attended the use of convenient intelligence tests in providing reliable,
quantitative (numerical) indexes of individual ability has stimulated interest in the possibility of
devising similar tests for measuring personality. Procedures now available vary in the degree to
which they achieve score reliability and convenience. These desirable attributes can be partly
achieved by restricting in designated ways the kinds of responses a subject is free to make. Self-
report instruments follow this strategy. For example, a test that restricts the subject to true-false
answers is likely to be convenient to give and easy to score. So-called personality inventories
(see below) tend to have these characteristics, in that they are relatively restrictive, can be scored
objectively, and are convenient to administer. Other techniques (such as inkblot tests) for
evaluating personality possess these characteristics to a lesser degree.

Self-report personality tests are used in clinical settings in making diagnoses, in deciding
whether treatment is required, and in planning the treatment to be used. A second major use is as
an aid in selecting employees, and a third is in psychological research. An example of the latter
case would be where scores on a measure of test anxiety—that is, the feeling of tenseness and
worry that people experience before an exam—might be used to divide people into groups
according to how upset they get while taking exams. Researchers have investigated whether the
more test-anxious students behave differently than the less anxious ones in an experimental
situation.

Personality Inventories

Among the most common of self-report tests are personality inventories. Their origins lie in the
early history of personality measurement, when most tests were constructed on the basis of so-
called face validity; that is, they simply appeared to be valid. Items were included simply
because, in the fallible judgment of the person who constructed or devised the test, they were
indicative of certain personality attributes. In other words, face validity need not be defined by
careful, quantitative study; rather, it typically reflects one’s more-or-less imprecise, possibly
erroneous, impressions. Personal judgment, even that of an expert, is no guarantee that a
particular collection of test items will prove to be reliable and meaningful in actual practice.

A widely used early self-report inventory, the so-called Woodworth Personal Data Sheet, was
developed during World War I to detect soldiers who were emotionally unfit for combat. Among
its ostensibly face-valid items were these: Does the sight of blood make you sick or dizzy? Are
you happy most of the time? Do you sometimes wish you had never been born? Recruits who
answered these kinds of questions in a way that could be taken to mean that they suffered
psychiatric disturbance were detained for further questioning and evaluation. Clearly, however,
symptoms revealed by such answers are exhibited by many people who are relatively free of
emotional disorder.

Rather than testing general knowledge or specific skills, personality inventories ask people
questions about themselves. These questions may take a variety of forms. When taking such a
test, the subject might have to decide whether each of a series of statements is accurate as a self-
description or respond to a series of true-false questions about personal beliefs.

Several inventories require that each of a series of statements be placed on a rating scale in terms
of the frequency or adequacy with which the statements are judged by the individual to reflect
his tendencies and attitudes. Regardless of the way in which the subject responds, most
inventories yield several scores, each intended to identify a distinctive aspect of personality.

One of these, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), is probably

the personality inventory in widest use in the English-speaking world. Also available in other
languages, it consists in one version of 550 items (e.g., “I like tall women”) to which subjects are
to respond “true,” “false,” or “cannot say.” Work on this inventory began in the 1930s, when its
construction was motivated by the need for a practical, economical means of describing and
predicting the behaviour of psychiatric patients. In its development efforts were made to achieve
convenience in administration and scoring and to overcome many of the known defects of earlier
personality inventories. Varied types of items were included and emphasis was placed on making
these printed statements (presented either on small cards or in a booklet) intelligible even to
persons with limited reading ability.

Most earlier inventories lacked subtlety; many people were able to fake or bias their answers
since the items presented were easily seen to reflect gross disturbances; indeed, in many of these
inventories maladaptive tendencies would be reflected in either all true or all false answers.
Perhaps the most significant methodological advance to be found in the MMPI was the attempt
on the part of its developers to measure tendencies to respond, rather than actual behaviour, and
to rely but little on assumptions of face validity. The true-false item “I hear strange voices all the
time” has face validity for most people in that to answer “true” to it seems to provide a strong
indication of abnormal hallucinatory experiences. But some psychiatric patients who “hear
strange voices” can still appreciate the socially undesirable implications of a “true” answer and
may therefore try to conceal their abnormality by answering “false.” A major difficulty in
placing great reliance on face validity in test construction is that the subject may be as aware of
the significance of certain responses as is the test constructor and thus may be able to mislead the
tester. Nevertheless, the person who hears strange voices and yet answers the item “false” clearly
is responding to something—the answer still is a reflection of personality, even though it may
not be the aspect of personality to which the item seems to refer; thus, careful study of responses
beyond their mere face validity often proves to be profitable.

Much study has been given to the ways in which response sets and test-taking attitudes influence
behaviour on the MMPI and other personality measures. Theresponse set called acquiescence,
for example, refers to one’s tendency to respond with “true” or “yes” answers to questionnaire
items regardless of what the item content is. It is conceivable that two people might be quite
similar in all respects except for their tendency toward acquiescence. This difference in response
set can lead to misleadingly different scores on personality tests. One person might be a “yea-
sayer” (someone who tends to answer true to test items); another might be a “nay-sayer”; a third
individual might not have a pronounced acquiescence tendency in either direction.

Acquiescence is not the only response set; there are other test-taking attitudes that are capable of
influencing personality profiles. One of these, already suggested by the example of the person
who hears strange voices, is social desirability. A person who has convulsions might say “false”
to the item “I have convulsions” because he believes that others will think less of him if they
know he has convulsions. The intrusive potentially deceiving effects of the subjects’ response
sets and test-taking attitudes on scores derived from personality measures can sometimes be
circumvented by varying the content and wording of test items. Nevertheless, users of
questionnaires have not yet completely solved problems of bias such as those arising from
response sets. Indeed, many of these problems first received widespread attention in research on
the MMPI, and research on this and similar inventories has significantly advanced understanding
of the whole discipline of personality testing.

Attributes Of The MMPI:The MMPI as originally published consists of nine clinical scales (or
sets of items), each scale having been found in practice to discriminate a particular clinical
group, such as people suffering from schizophrenia, depression, or paranoia (see mental
disorder). Each of these scales (or others produced later) was developed by determining patterns
of response to the inventory that were observed to be distinctive of groups of individuals who
had been psychiatrically classified by other means (e.g., by long-term observation). The
responses of apparently normal subjects were compared with those of hospital patients with a
particular psychiatric diagnosis—for example, with symptoms of schizophrenia. Items to which
the greatest percentage of “normals” gave answers that differed from those more typically given
by patients came to constitute each clinical scale.

In addition to the nine clinical scales and many specially developed scales, there are four so-
called control scales on the inventory. One of these is simply the number of items placed by the
subject in the “cannot say” category. The L (or lie) scale was devised to measure the tendency of
the test taker to attribute socially desirable attributes to himself. In response to “I get angry
sometimes” he should tend to mark false; extreme L scorers in the other direction appear to be
too good, too virtuous. Another so-called F scale was included to provide a reflection of the
subjects’ carelessness and confusion in taking the inventory (e.g., “Everything tastes the same”
tends to be answered true by careless or confused people). More subtle than either the L or F
scales is what is called the K scale. Its construction was based on the observation that some
persons tend to exaggerate their symptoms because of excessive openness and frankness and
may obtain high scores on the clinical scales; others may exhibit unusually low scores because of
defensiveness. On the K-scale item “I think nearly anyone would tell a lie to keep out of
trouble,” the defensive person is apt to answer false, giving the same response to “I certainly feel
useless at times.” The K scale was designed to reduce these biasing factors; by weighting
clinical-scale scores with K scores, the distorting effect of test-taking defensiveness may be
reduced.

In general, it has been found that the greater the number and magnitude of one’s unusually high
scores on the MMPI, the more likely it is that one is in need of psychiatric attention. Most
professionals who use the device refuse to make assumptions about the factualness of the
subject’s answers and about his personal interpretations of the meanings of the items. Their
approach does not depend heavily on theoretical predilections and hypotheses. For this reason
the inventory has proved particularly popular with those who have strong doubts about the
eventual validity that many theoretical formulations will show in connection with personality
measurement after they have been tested through painstaking research. The MMPI also appeals
to those who demand firm experimental evidence that any personality assessment method can
make valid discriminations among individuals.

In recent years there has been growing interest in actuarial personality description—that is, in
personality description based on traits shared in common by groups of people. Actuarial
description studies yield rules by which persons may be classified according to their personal
attributes as revealed by their behaviour (on tests, for example). Computer programs are now
available for diagnosing such disorders as hysteria, schizophrenia, and paranoia on the basis of
typical group profiles of MMPI responses. Computerized methods for integrating large amounts
of personal data are not limited to this inventory and are applicable to other inventories,
personality tests (e.g., inkblots), and life-history information. Computerized classification of
MMPI profiles, however, has been explored most intensively.

Comparison of The MMPI and CPI

The MMPI has been considered in some detail here because of its wide usage and because it
illustrates a number of important problems confronting those who attempt to assess personality
characteristics. Many other omnibus personality inventories are also used in applied settings and
in research. The California Psychological Inventory (CPI), for example, is keyed for several
personality variables that include sociability, self-control, flexibility, and tolerance. Unlike the
MMPI, it was developed specifically for use with “normal” groups of people. Whereas the
judgments of experts (usually psychiatric workers) were used in categorizing subjects given the
MMPI during the early item-writing phase of its development, nominations by peers (such as
respondents or friends) of the subjects were relied upon in work with the CPI. Its technical
development has been evaluated by test authorities to be of high order, in part because its
developers profited from lessons learned in the construction and use of the MMPI. It also
provides measures of response sets and has been subjected to considerable research study.

From time to time, most personality inventories are revised for a variety of reasons, including the
need to take account of cultural and social changes and to improve them. For example, a revision
of the CPI was published in 1987. In the revision, the inventory itself was modified to improve
clarity, update content, and delete items that might be objectionable to some respondents.
Because the item pool remained largely unchanged, data from the original samples were used in
computing norms and in evaluating reliability and validity for new scales and new composite
scores. The descriptions of high and low scorers on each scale have been refined and sharpened,
and correlations of scale scores with other personality tests have been reported.

Other Self-Report Techniques

Rating Scale: Beyond personality inventories, there are other self-report approaches to
personality measurement available for research and applied purposes. Mention was made earlier
of the use of rating scales. The rating-scale technique permits quantification of an individual’s
reactions to himself, to others, and, in fact, to any object or concept in terms of a standard set of
semantic (word) polarities such as “hot-cold” or “good-bad.” It is a general method for assessing
the meanings of these semantic concepts to individuals.

Q-sort:Another method of self-report called the Q-sort is devised for problems similar to those
for which rating scales are used. In a Q-sort a person is given a set of sentences, phrases, or
words (usually presented individually on cards) and is asked to use them to describe himself (as
he thinks he is or as he would like to be) or someone else. This description is carried out by
having the subject sort the items on the cards in terms of their degree of relevance so that they
can be distributed along what amounts to a rating scale. Examples of descriptive items that might
be included in a Q-sort are “worries a lot,” “works hard,” and “is cheerful.”

Paper-and-pencil devices:Typical paper-and-pencil instruments such as personality inventories

involve verbal stimuli (words) intended to call forth designated types of responses from the
individual. There are clearly stated ground rules under which he makes his responses. Paper-and-
pencil devices are relatively easy and economical to administer and can be scored accurately and
reliably by relatively inexperienced clerical workers. They are generally regarded by professional
personality evaluators as especially valuable assessment tools in screening large numbers of
people, as in military or industrial personnel selection. Assessment specialists do not assume that
self-reports are accurate indicators of personality traits. They are accepted, rather, as samples of
behaviour for which validity in predicting one’s everyday activities or traits must be established
empirically (i.e., by direct observation or experiment). Paper-and-pencil techniques have moved
from their early stage of assumed (face) validity to more advanced notions in which
improvements in conceptualization and methodology are clearly recognized as basic to the
determination of empirical validity.

Projective techniques

One group of assessment specialists believes that the more freedom people have in picking their
responses, the more meaningful the description and classification that can be obtained. Because
personality inventories do not permit much freedom of choice, some researchers and clinicians
prefer to use projective techniques, in which a person is shown ambiguous stimuli (such as
shapes or pictures) and asked to interpret them in some way. (Such stimuli allow relative
freedom in projecting one’s own interests and feelings into them, reacting in any way that seems
appropriate.) Projective techniques are believed to be sensitive to unconscious dimensions of
personality. Defense mechanisms, latent impulses, and anxieties have all been inferred from data
gathered in projective situations.

Personality inventories and projective techniques do have some elements in common; inkblots,

for example, are ambiguous, but so also are many of the statements on inventories such as the
MMPI. These techniques differ in that the subject is given substantially free rein in responding to
projective stimuli rather than merely answering true or false, for example. Another similarity
between projective and questionnaire or inventory approaches is that all involve the use of
relatively standardized testing situations.
While projective techniques are often lumped together as one general methodology, in actual
practice there are several approaches to assessment from a projective point of view. Although
projective techniques share the common characteristic that they permit the subject wide latitude
in responding, they still may be distinguished broadly as follows: (1) associative techniques, in
which the subject is asked to react to words, to inkblots, or to other stimuli with the first
associated thoughts that come to mind; (2) construction techniques, in which the subject is asked
to create something—for example, make up a story or draw a self-portrait; (3) completion
techniques, in which the subject is asked to finish a partially developed stimulus, such as adding
the last words to an incomplete sentence; (4) choice or ordering techniques, in which the subject
is asked to choose from among or to give some orderly sequence to stimuli—for example, to
choose from or arrange a set of pictures or inkblots; (5) expressive techniques, in which the
subject is asked to use free expression in some manner, such as in finger painting.

Hidden personality defense mechanisms, latent emotional impulses, and inner anxieties all have
been attributed to test takers by making theoretical inferences from data gathered as they
responded in projective situations. While projective stimuli are ambiguous, they are usually
administered under fairly standardized conditions. Quantitative (numerical) measures can be
derived from subjects’ responses to them. These include the number of responses one makes to a
series of inkblots and the number of responses to the blots in which the subject perceives what
seem to him to be moving animals.

The Rorschach Inkblot Test

The Rorschach inkblots were developed by a Swiss psychiatrist, Hermann Rorschach, in an

effort to reduce the time required in psychiatric diagnosis. His test consists of 10 cards, half of
which are in colour and half in black and white. The test is administered by showing the subject
the 10 blots one at a time; the subject’s task is to describe what he sees in the blots or what they
remind him of. The subject is usually told that the inkblots are not a test of the kind he took in
school and that there are no right or wrong answers.

Rorschach’s work was stimulated by his interest in the relationship between perception and
personality. He held that a person’s perceptual responses to inkblots could serve as clues to basic
personality tendencies. Despite Rorschach’s original claims for the validity of his test,
subsequent negative research findings have led many users of projective techniques to become
dubious about the role assigned the inkblots in delineating relationships between perception and
personality. In recent years, emphasis has tended to shift to the analysis of nuances of the
subject’s social behaviour during the test and to the content of his verbal responses to the
examiner—whether, for example, he seeks to obtain the assistance of the examiner in “solving”
the inkblots presented to him, sees “angry lions” or “meek lambs” in the inkblots, or is
apologetic or combative about his responses.

Over the years, considerable research has been carried out on Rorschach’s inkblots; important
statistical problems in analyzing data gathered with projective techniques have been identified,
and researchers have continued in their largely unsuccessful efforts to overcome them. There is a
vast experimental literature to suggest that the Rorschach technique lacks empirical validity.
Recently, researchers have sought to put the Rorschach on a sounder psychometric (mental
testing) basis. New comprehensive scoring systems have been developed, and there have been
improvements in standardization and norms. These developments have injected new life into the
Rorschach as a psychometric instrument.

A similar method, the Holtzman Inkblot Test, has been developed in an effort to eliminate some
of the statistical problems that beset the Rorschach test. It involves the administration of a series
of 45 inkblots, the subject being permitted to make only one response per card. The Holtzman
has the desirable feature that it provides an alternate series of 45 additional cards for use in
retesting the same person.

Research with the Rorschach and Holtzman has proceeded in a number of directions; many
studies have compared psychiatric patients and other groups of special interest (delinquents,
underachieving students) with ostensibly normal people. Some investigators have sought to
derive indexes or predictions of future behaviour from responses to inkblots and have checked,
for example, to see if anxiety and hostility (as inferred from content analyses of verbal
responses) are related to favourable or unfavourable response to psychotherapy. A sizable area of
exploration concerns the effects of special conditions (e.g., experimentally induced anxiety or
hostility) on the inkblot perceptions reported by the subject and the content of his speech.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

There are other personality assessment devices, which, like the Rorschach, are based on the idea
that an individual will project something of himself into his description of an ambiguous
stimulus.

The TAT, for example, presents the subject with pictures of persons engaged in a variety of
activities (e.g., someone with a violin). While the pictures leave much to one’s imagination, they
are more highly specific, organized visual stimuli than are inkblots. The test consists of 30 black
and white pictures and one blank card (to test imagination under very limited stimulation). The
cards are presented to the subject one at a time, and he is asked to make up a story that describes
each picture and that indicates the events that led to the scene and the events that will grow out
of it. He is also asked to describe the thoughts and feelings of the persons in his story.

Although some content-analysis scoring systems have been developed for the TAT, attempts to
score it in a standardized quantitative fashion tend to be limited to research and have been fewer
than has been the case for the Rorschach. This is especially the state of affairs in applied settings
in which the test is often used as a basis for conducting a kind of clinical interview; the pictures
are used to elicit a sample of verbal behaviour on the basis of which inferences are drawn by the
clinician.

In one popular approach, interpretation of a TAT story usually begins with an effort to determine
who is the hero (i.e., to identify the character with whom the subject seems to have identified
himself). The content of the stories is often analyzed in terms of a so-called need-press system.
Needs are defined as the internal motivations of the hero. Press refers to environmental forces
that may facilitate or interfere with the satisfaction of needs (e.g., in the story the hero may be
physically attacked, frustrated by poverty, or suffer the effects of rumours being spread about
him). In assessing the importance or strength of a particular inferred need or press for the
individual who takes the test, special attention is given to signs of its pervasiveness and
consistency in different stories. Analysis of the test may depend considerably on the subjective,
personal characteristics of the evaluator, who usually seeks to interpret the subjects’ behaviour in
the testing situation; the characteristics of his utterances; the emotional tone of the stories; the
kinds of fantasies he offers; the outcomes of the stories; and the conscious and unconscious
needs speculatively inferred from the stories.

Word-Association Techniques

The list of projective approaches to personality assessment is long, one of the most venerable
being the so-called word-association test. Jung used associations to groups of related words as a
basis for inferring personality traits (e.g., the inferiority “complex”). Administering a word-
association test is relatively uncomplicated; a list of words is presented one at a time to the
subject who is asked to respond with the first word or idea that comes to mind. Many of the
stimulus words may appear to be emotionally neutral (e.g., building, first, tree); of special
interest are words that tend to elicit personalized reactions (e.g., mother, hit, love). The amount
of time the subject takes before beginning each response and the response itself are used in
efforts to analyze a word association test. The idiosyncratic, or unusual, nature of one’s word-
association responses may be gauged by comparing them to standard published tables of the
specific associations given by large groups of other people.

Sentence-Completion Techniques

The sentence-comple-tion technique may be considered a logical extension of word-association

methods. In administering a sentence-completion test, the evaluator presents the subject with a
series of partial sentences that he is asked to finish in his own words (e.g., “I feel upset when . . .
”; “What burns me up is . . . ”). Users of sentence-completion methods in assessing personality
typically analyze them in terms of what they judge to be recurring attitudes, conflicts, and
motives reflected in them. Such analyses, like those of TAT, contain a subjective element.

Behavioral assessment

Objective observation of a subject’s behaviour is a technique that falls in the category of

behavioral assessment. A variety of assessments could be considered, for example, in the case of
a seven-year-old boy who, according to his teacher, is doing poorly in his schoolwork and,
according to his parents, is difficult to manage at home and does not get along with other
children. The following types of assessment might be considered: (1) a measure of the boy’s
general intelligence, which might help explain his poor schoolwork; (2) an interview with him to
provide insights into his view of his problem; (3) personality tests, which might reveal trends that
are related to his inadequate social relationships; (4) observations of his activities and response
patterns in school; (5) observations of his behaviour in a specially created situation, such as a
playroom with many interesting toys and games; (6) an interview with his parents, since the
boy’s poor behaviour in school may by symptomatic of problems at home; and (7) direct
observation of his behaviour at home.

Making all of these assessments would be a major undertaking. Because of the variety of data
that are potentially available, the assessor must decide which types of information are most
feasible and desirable under a given set of circumstances. In most cases, the clinician is
interested in both subjective and objective information. Subjective information includes what
clients think about, the emotions they experience, and their worries and preoccupations.
Interviews, personality inventories, and projective techniques provide indications of subjective
experience, although considerable clinical judgment is needed to infer what is going on within
the client from test responses. Objective information includes the person’s observable behaviour
and usually does not require the assessor to draw complex inferences about such topics as
attitudes toward parents, unconscious wishes, and deep-seated conflicts. Such objective
information is measured by behavioral assessment. It is often used to identify behavioral
problems, which are then treated in some appropriate way. Behavioral observations are used to
get information that cannot be obtained by other means. Examples of such observations include
the frequency of a particular type of response, such as physical attacks on others or observations
by ward attendants of certain behaviours of psychiatric patients. In either case, observational data
must meet the same standards of reliability as data obtained by more formal measures.

The value of behavioral assessment depends on the behaviours selected for observation. For
example, if the goal of assessment is to detect a tendency toward depression, the responses
recorded should be those that are relevant to that tendency, such as degrees of smiling, motor
activity, and talking.

A type of behavioral assessment called baseline observations is becoming increasingly popular.

These are recordings of response frequencies in particular situations before any treatment or
intervention has been made. They can be used in several ways. Observations might be made
simply to describe a person’s response repertoire at a given time. For example, the number of
aggressive responses made by children of different ages might be recorded. Such observations
also provide a baseline for judging the effectiveness of behaviour modification techniques. A
similar set of observations, made after behaviour modification procedures have been used, could
be compared with the baseline measurement as a way of determining how well the therapy
worked.

Behavioral observations can be treated in different ways. One of these is to keep track of the
frequency with which people make designated responses during a given period of time (e.g., the
number of times a psychiatric patient makes his own bed or the number of times a child asks for
help in a novel situation). Another approach involves asking raters to support their judgments of
others by citing specific behaviour (critical incidents); a shop foreman, for example, may rate a
worker as depressed by citing incidents when the worker burst into tears. Critical incidents not
only add validity to ordinary ratings, but they also suggest behavioral details that might be
promising predictors of success on the job, response to psychiatric treatment, or level of
academic achievement.

Behavioral observations are widely made in interviews and in a variety of workaday settings.
Employers, supervisors, and teachers—either formally or informally—make use of behavioral
observations in making decisions about people for whom they have responsibility. Unfortunately
the subject may know he is being studied or evaluated and, therefore, may behave atypically
(e.g., by working harder than usual or by growing tense). The observer may be a source of error
by being biased in favour of or against the subject. Disinterested observers clearly are to be
preferred (other things being equal) for research and clinical purposes. The greater the care taken
to control such contributions to error, the greater the likelihood that observations will prove to be
reliable.

Cognitive assessment

The types of thoughts experienced by individuals are reflective of their personalities. Just as it is
important to know what people do and how their behaviour affects others, it is also necessary to
assess the thoughts that may lie behind the behaviour. Cognitive assessment provides
information about thoughts that precede, accompany, and follow maladaptive behaviour. It also
provides information about the effects of procedures that are intended to modify both how
subjects think about a problem and how they behave.

Cognitive assessment can be carried out in a variety of ways. For example, questionnaires have
been developed to sample people’s thoughts after an upsetting event. Beepers (electronic pagers)
have been used to signal subjects to record their thoughts at certain times of the day. There are
also questionnaires to assess the directions people give themselves while working on a task and
their theories about why things happen as they do.

The assessment of thoughts and ideas is a relatively new development. It has received impetus
from the growing evidence that thought processes and the content of thoughts are related to
emotions and behaviour. Cognitive assessment provides information about adaptive and
maladaptive aspects of people’s thoughts and the role their thoughts play in the processes of
planning, making decisions, and interpreting reality.

Bodily assessment

Bodily responses may reveal a person’s feelings and motivations, and clinicians pay particular
attention to these nonverbal messages. Bodily functions may also reflect motivations and
concerns, and some clinicians also pay attention to these. Sophisticated devices have been
developed to measure such physiological changes as pupil dilation, blood pressure, and electrical
skin responses under specific conditions. These changes are related to periodic ratings of mood
and to other physiological states that provide measures of stability and change within the
individual. Technological advances are making it possible to monitor an individual’s
physiological state on a continuous basis. Sweat, heartbeat, blood volume, substances in the
bloodstream, and blood pressure can all be recorded and correlated with the presence or absence
of certain psychological conditions such as stress.

Personal facts

One type of information that is sometimes overlooked because of its very simplicity consists of
the subject’s life history and present status. Much of this information may be gathered through
direct interviews with a subject or with an informant through questionnaires and through
searches of records and archives. The information might also be gathered by examining the
subject’s personal documents (e.g., letters, autobiographies) and medical, educational, or
psychiatric case histories. The information might concern the individual’s social and
occupational history, his cultural background, his present economic status, and his past and
present physical characteristics. Life-history data can provide clues to the precursors and
correlates of present behaviour. This information may help the investigator avoid needlessly
speculative or complex hypotheses about the causation of personality traits when simple
explanations might be superior. Failure on the part of a personality evaluator to be aware of the
fact that someone had spent two years during World War II in a concentration camp could result
in misleading inferences and conjectures about the subject’s present behaviour.

GROUP DYNAMICS 

Group dynamics is a system of behaviors and psychological processes occurring within a social
group (intragroup dynamics), or between social groups (intergroup dynamics). The study of
group dynamics can be useful in understanding decision-making behavior, tracking the spread of
diseases in society, creating effective therapy techniques, and following the emergence and
popularity of new ideas and technologies. Group dynamics are at the core of understanding
racism, sexism, and other forms of social prejudice and discrimination.

A group is defined as two or more individuals who are connected to one another by social
relationships. A group can range in size from two members to thousands of members. Very
small collectives, such as dyads (two members) and triads (three members) are groups, but so are
very large collections of people, such as mobs, crowds, and congregations. On average, however,
most groups tend to be relatively small in size, ranging from two to seven members.

The size of a group influences its nature in many ways, for a group with only two or three
members possesses many unique characteristics simply because it includes so few members. The
dyad is, by definition, the only group that dissolves when one member leaves and the only group
that can never be broken down into subgroups . Very large collectives, such as mobs, crowds, or
congregations, also have unique qualities. In a very large group, for example, the chances for
each member to be connected to all other members becomes very small. As groups increase in
size, they tend to become more complex and more formally structured (Hare, 1976). By
definition, however, all are considered groups.

Evolutionary theory suggests that humans evolved into a species that is best equipped for
survival when it functions in groups. Groups allow for critical support mechanisms that increase
the chance of survival for all group members. For this reason it is only natural that humans today
either unconsciously or consciously form or flock towards groups. Groups, however, do not
possess these survival benefits without important costs such as inter and intra group competition,
inter and intra group conflict, and social shielding from others outside of the group.

The study of group dynamics can shed light on how to increase diversity in a community and
how to combat the negative aspects that arise from certain group dynamics of groups with strong
similarities and goals. The study of groups in a psychological manner was first founded by Kurt
Lewin (1943), which consisted of explaining the way small groups and individuals act and react
to different circumstances; he called this group dynamics. Group dynamics is based on group
processes that develop within a group that is not present in a random collection of individuals.
The processes develop through the interactions and influences between individuals and the
group. A group is a special circumstance that consists of two or more individuals who are
connected through common goals and a shared identity. These individuals interact with, and
have strong social attractions to, one another; therefore, developing certain processes which, in
turn, affect the group and its members. It is important to look at group dynamics of all groups to
understand group behaviors. Why are some groups capable of accomplishing positive goals
(Habitat For Humanity) and other groups capable of accomplishing negative goals (Nazi’s)?
Looking at the different processes that develop within a group, the group dynamics, could help
one understand how and why it is possible that, in certain situations, groups can evolve to act and
behave immorally.

Characteristics of a Group:

Regardless of the size or the purpose, every group has similar characteristics:

a) 2 or more persons (if it is one person, it is not a group)

b) Formal social structure (the rules of the game are defined)
c) Common fate (they will swim together)
d) Common goals (the destiny is the same and emotionally connected)
e) Face-to-face interaction (they will talk with each other)
f) Interdependence (each one is complimentary to the other)
g) Self-definition as group members (what one is who belongs to the group)
h) Recognition by others (yes, you belong to the group).

PROCESS/STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT/EVOLUTION:

Group Development is a dynamic process. How do groups evolve? There is a process of five
stages through which groups pass through. The process includes the five stages: forming,
storming, forming, performing, and adjourning.

Forming:

The first stage in the life of a group is concerned with forming a group. This stage is
characterized by members seeking either a work assignment (in a formal group) or other benefit,
like status, affiliation, power, etc. (in an informal group). Members at this stage either engage in
busy type of activity or show apathy.

Storming:

The next stage in this group is marked by the formation of dyads and triads. Members seek out
familiar or similar individuals and begin a deeper sharing of self. Continued attention to the
subgroup creates a differentiation in the group and tensions across the dyads / triads may appear.
Pairing is a common phenomenon. There will be conflict about controlling the group.

Norming:

The third stage of group development is marked by a more serious concern about task
performance. The dyads/triads begin to open up and seek out other members in the group. Efforts
are made to establish various norms for task performance.

Members begin to take greater responsibility for their own group and relationship while the
authority figure becomes relaxed. Once this stage is complete, a clear picture will emerge about
hierarchy of leadership. The norming stage is over with the solidification of the group structure
and a sense of group identity and camaraderie.

Performing:

This is a stage of a fully functional group where members see themselves as a group and get
involved in the task. Each person makes a contribution and the authority figure is also seen as a
part of the group. Group norms are followed and collective pressure is exerted to ensure the
Process of Group effectiveness of the group.

The group may redefine its goals Development in the light of information from the outside
environment and show an autonomous will to pursue those goals. The long-term viability of the
group is established and nurtured.

Adjourning:

In the case of temporary groups, like project team, task force, or any other such group, which
have a limited task at hand, also have a fifth stage, This is known as adjourning.
The group decides to disband. Some members may feel happy over the performance, and some
may be unhappy over the stoppage of meeting with group members. Adjourning may also be
referred to as mourning, i.e. mourning the adjournment of the group.

The readers must note that the four stages of group development mentioned above for permanent
groups are merely suggestive. In reality, several stages may go on simultaneously.

TYPES OF GROUPS

One way to classify the groups is by way of formality – formal and informal

There are two types of groups in every organization; Formal groups and Informal groups
While formal groups are established by an organization to achieve its goals, informal groups
merge spontaneously. Formal groups may take the form of command groups, task groups, and
functional groups.

1. FORMAL GROUPS

An organization creates and maintains formal groups to fulfill needs or tasks that are included in
its mission or organizational goals. In order to achieve its ultimate goal, an organization creates
sub-goals which it assigns to different units or departments. These formal groups created by the
organization itself are regulated by the organizational rules and regulations.

Life of the formal groups may be permanent or temporary depending upon the specific objectives
to be fulfilled. Examples of permanent formal groups are board of directors, managing
committees etc. and temporary formal groups are exemplified by task force or temporary
committees created to fulfill certain specified objectives.

1. Command Groups:Command groups are specified by the organizational chart and often
consist of a supervisor and the subordinates that report to that supervisor. An example of a
command group is a market research firm CEO and the research associates under him.

2. Task Groups:Task groups consist of people who work together to achieve a common task.
Members are brought together to accomplish a narrow range of goals within a specified time
period. Task groups are also commonly referred to as task forces. The organization appoints
members and assigns the goals and tasks to be accomplished.

Examples of assigned tasks are the development of a new product, the improvement of a
production process, or designing the syllabus under semester system.

Other common task groups are ad hoc committees, project groups, and standing committees. Ad
hoc committees are temporary groups created to resolve a specific complaint or develop a
process are normally disbanded after the group completes the assigned task.
3. Functional Groups:A functional group is created by the organization to accomplish specific
goals within an unspecified time frame. Functional groups remain in existence after achievement
of current goals and objectives. Examples of functional groups would be a marketing
department, a customer service department, or an accounting department.

2. INFORMAL GROUP

In contrast to formal groups, informal groups are formed naturally and in response to the
common interests and shared values of individuals. They are created for purposes other than the
accomplishment of organizational goals and do not have a specified time frame. Informal groups
are not appointed by the organization and members can invite others to join from time to time.

Informal groups can have a strong influence in organizations that can either be positive or
negative. For example, employees who form an informal group can either discuss how to
improve a production process or how to create shortcuts that jeopardize quality. Informal groups
can take the form of interest groups, friendship groups, or reference groups.

i. Interest Group:Interest groups usually continue over time and may last longer than general
informal groups. Members of interest groups may not be part of the same organizational
department but they are bound together by some other common interest.

The goals and objectives of group interests are specific to each group and may not be related to
organizational goals and objectives. An example of an interest group would be students who
come together to form a study group for a specific class.

ii. Friendship Groups:Friendship groups are formed by members who enjoy similar social
activities, political beliefs, religious values, or other common bonds. Members enjoy each other’s
company and often meet after work to participate in these activities. For example, a group of
employees who form a friendship group may have a yoga group, a Rajasthani association in
Delhi, or a kitty party lunch once a month.

iii. Reference Groups:A reference group is a type of group that people use to evaluate
themselves. The main objectives of reference groups are to seek social validation and social
comparison. Social validation allows individuals to justify their attitudes and values while social
comparison helps individuals evaluate their own actions by comparing themselves to others.
Reference groups have a strong influence on members’ behavior. Such groups are formed
voluntarily. Family, friends, and religious affiliations are strong reference groups for most
individuals.

Characteristics of Informal Groups:

1. Creation:It is not created by the organisation but springs up spontaneously.

2. Satisfaction of Needs:The needs which cannot be satisfied within the framework of
formal organisation, like social and psychological needs of people, such people create
informal groups.
 3. Voluntary Membership:Nobody is compelled to join an informal organization.
4. Multi-Group Membership:A member of an informal group can be a member of more
than one informal group to pursue different interests.
5. Systems and Processes:Members of such groups follow their own norms, leadership,
communication, etc. to remain cohesive. The communication channels are referred to as
‘Grapevine’. Grapevine i.e., informal channel runs very fast to spread the information
across the organization.
6. Leadership:Every informal group has a leader, selected by the group, and who is capable
of helping to realize their goals. The moment it is realized that the leader is incapable, (s)
he is replaced with a new leader.

Reasons for the Emergence of Informal Groups:

1. People working together may come together.

2. People with similar values, beliefs, attitudes, and interests often feel attraction to come
together.
3. Need satisfaction – to belong, to associate, etc.
4. Removal of monotony of routine tasks – to get rid of monotony and psychological
fatigue, job-related boredom and frustration provides an opportunity to behave in a
natural and relaxed manner.
5. Promotion of other interests and pursuit of goals – People join Rotary or Lions Club to
expand their contacts which may help them to satisfy their personal goals.

Benefits of Informal Groups:

1. Blending with formal group allows people to work for the formal organisation.
2. Informal work group lightens the workload for the formal manager.
3. Brings satisfaction and stability to the organisation as a whole.
4. Provides a useful channel of communication.
5. Encourages managers to plan and act more carefully.

Limitations of Informal Groups:

1. Resistance to Change because they do not want to deviate from existing norms and learn
new ways.
2. Informal group provides most fertile ground for Rumour Mongering because of
maliciousness, lack of proper communication systems and processes and ambiguous
circumstances.
3. Since a member of an informal group is also a member of a formal group, at times it
creates role conflict.
4. Creativity of group member (s) is restricted because of strong pressure for conformity
applied by the group.

Group Cohesiveness in Informal Groups

Another characteristic of informal groups is group cohesiveness-the force that holds a group
together. It is the degree of unity in a group. The more is the unity between the group members,
more is the power associated with the group. According to Walker, “Cohesiveness may be
defined as the resultant power of a group to think and act as a single unit in pursuit of a common
objective.” According to Likert, “Cohesiveness is the attractiveness of the members to the group
or resistance of the members to leaving it.” According to Seashore, ”Group cohesiveness is the
attraction of the members to the group in terms of the strength of forces on the individual
members to remain active in the group and to resist leaving it.”

A cohesive group is one in which all the members work towards a common goal by taking
responsibilities voluntarily and leave no stone unturned in their efforts to achieve their common
goal. An effective leader plays a major role in keeping the members close knit, thereby
increasing the group cohesiveness. Group cohesiveness varies widely based on numerous
factors-including the:

a. Size of the group-smaller groups has more cohesiveness.

b. Dependence of members upon the group-more the dependence more will be the group
cohesiveness
c. Achievement of goals-If all members are in unison regarding achieving common goals,
their group cohesiveness increases the chances of their being successful in achieving their
goals.
d. Status of the group-high status group has more loyal members that confirm to the norms
of the group.
e. Management demands and pressures—group cohesiveness increases strongly whenever
the membership perceives a threat from the outside. This threat produces the high anxiety
that strong group cohesiveness can help reduce.

FACTORS AFFECTING GROUP BEHAVIOUR:

The success or failure of a group depends upon so many factors. Group member resources,
structure (group size, group roles, group norms, and group cohesiveness), group processes (the
communication, group decision making processes, power dynamics, conflicting interactions,
etc.) and group tasks (complexity and interdependence).

1. Group Member Resources:

The members’ knowledge, abilities, skills; and personality characteristics (sociability, self-
reliance, and independence) are the resources the group members bring in with them. The
success depends upon these resources as useful to the task.

2. Group Structure:

Group Size:Group size can vary from 2 people to a very large number of people. Small groups of
two to ten are thought to be more effective because each member has ample opportunity to take
part and engage actively in the group. Large groups may waste time by deciding on processes
and trying to decide who should participate next.

Evidence supports the notion that as the size of the group increases, satisfaction increases up to a
certain point. Increasing the size of a group beyond 10-12 members’ results in decreased
satisfaction. It is increasingly difficult for members of large groups to identify with one another
and experience cohesion.

Group Roles:In formal groups, roles are always predetermined and assigned to members. Each
role shall have specific responsibilities and duties. There are, however, emergent roles that
develop naturally to meet the needs of the groups.

These emergent roles will often substitute the assigned roles as individuals begin to express
themselves and become more assertive. Group roles can then be classified into work roles,
maintenance roles, and blocking roles.

Work roles are task-oriented activities that involve accomplishing the group’s goals. They
involve a variety of specific roles such as initiator, informer, clarifier, summarizer, and reality
tester.

Maintenance roles are social-emotional activities that help members maintain their involvement
in the group and raise their personal commitment to the group. The maintenance roles are
harmonizer, gatekeeper, consensus tester, encourager, and compromiser.
Blocking roles are activities that disrupt the group. Blockers will stubbornly resist the group’s
ideas, disagree with group members for personal reasons, and will have hidden agendas. They
may take the form of dominating discussions, verbally attacking other group members, and
distracting the group with trivial information or unnecessary humour.

Often times the blocking behaviour may not be intended as negative. Sometimes a member may
share a joke in order to break the tension, or may question a decision in order to force group
members to rethink the issue. The blocking roles are aggressor, blocker, dominator, comedian,
and avoidance behaviour.

Role conflicts arise when there is ambiguity (confusion about delegation and no specific job
descriptions) between the sent role and the received role which leads to frustration and
dissatisfaction, ultimately leading to turnover; inconsistency between the perceived role and role
behaviour (conflict between work roles and family roles); and conflicting demands from
different sources while performing the task.

Group Norms:Norms define the acceptable standard or boundaries of acceptable and

unacceptable behaviour, shared by group members. They are typically created in order to
facilitate group survival, make behaviour more predictable, avoid embarrassing situations, and
express the values of the group.
Each group will create its own norms that might determine from the work performance to dress
to making comments in a meeting. Groups exert pressure on members to force them to conform
to the group’s standards and at times not to perform at higher levels. The norms often reflect the
level of commitment, motivation, and performance of the group.

The majority of the group must agree that the norms are appropriate in order for the behaviour to
be accepted. There must also be a shared understanding that the group supports the norms. It
should be noted, however, that members might violate group norms from time to time.

If the majority of members do not adhere to the norms, then they will eventually change and will
no longer serve as a standard for evaluating behaviour. Group members who do not conform to
the norms will be punished by being excluded, ignored, or asked to leave the group.

Group Cohesiveness:Cohesiveness refers to the bonding of group members or unity, feelings of

attraction for each other and desire to remain part of the group. Many factors influence the
amount of group cohesiveness – agreement on group goals, frequency of interaction, personal
attractiveness, inter-group competition, favourable evaluation, etc.

The more difficult it is to obtain group membership the more cohesive the group will be. Groups
also tend to become cohesive when they are in intense competition with other groups or face a
serious external threat to survival. Smaller groups and those who spend considerable time
together also tend to be more cohesive.

Cohesiveness in work groups has many positive effects, including worker satisfaction, low
turnover and absenteeism, and higher productivity. However, highly cohesive groups may be
detrimental to organizational performance if their goals are misaligned with organizational goals.

Highly cohesive groups may also be more vulnerable to groupthink. Groupthink occurs when
members of a group exert pressure on each other to come to a consensus in decision making.
Groupthink results in careless judgments, unrealistic appraisals of alternative courses of action,
and a lack of reality testing.

Evidence suggests that groups typically outperform individuals when the tasks involved require a
variety of skills, experience, and decision making. Groups are often more flexible and can
quickly assemble, achieve goals, and disband or move on to another set of objectives.

Many organizations have found that groups have many motivational aspects as well. Group
members are more likely to participate in decision-making and problem-solving activities
leading to empowerment and increased productivity. Groups complete most of the work in an
organization; thus, the effectiveness of the organization is limited by the effectiveness of its
groups.
3. Group Processes:

Decision-making by a group is superior, because group generates more information and

knowledge, generates diverse alternatives, increases acceptance of a solution, and increases
legitimacy. Decisions take longer time, minority is dominated, pressure is applied to conform to
group decisions, and none is responsible for the decisions. Group processes also include
communication, conflict management, and leadership that we shall discuss in details in the
chapters to follow hereafter.

GROUP PRESSURE, POWER AND INFLUENCE

Groups use their power to influence behaviors by providing information on how to behave and
exerting pressure to encourage compliance. Team members gain power from personal
characteristics and their positions, and use a variety of power tactics to influence other members.
The dynamics of power in teams is a major influence on leaders’ behaviors, how team members
interact, the impact of minorities, and the amount of influence members have on one another.

Groupthink- a term coined by social psychologist Irving Janis (1972), occurs when a group
makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of “mental efficiency,
reality testing, and moral judgment”.  Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend
to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups.  A group is especially vulnerable to
groupthink when its members are similar in background, when the group is insulated from
outside opinions, and when there are no clear rules for decision making.

The following are symptoms of groupthink:

1. Illusion of invulnerability –Creates excessive optimism that encourages taking extreme

risks.
2. Collective rationalization – Members discount warnings and do not reconsider their
assumptions.
3. Belief in inherent morality – Members believe in the rightness of their cause and
therefore ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions.
4. Stereotyped views of out-groups – Negative views of “enemy” make effective responses
to conflict seem unnecessary.
5. Direct pressure on dissenters – Members are under pressure not to express arguments
against any of the group’s views.
 6. Self-censorship – Doubts and deviations from the perceived group consensus are not
expressed.
7. Illusion of unanimity – The majority view and judgments are assumed to be unanimous.
8. Self-appointed ‘mindguards’ – Members protect the group and the leader from
information that is problematic or contradictory to the group’s cohesiveness, view, and/or
decisions.

 When the above symptoms exist in a group that is trying to make a decision, there is a
reasonable chance that groupthink will happen, although it is not necessarily so.  Groupthink
occurs when groups are highly cohesive and when they are under considerable pressure to make
a quality decision.  When pressures for unanimity seem overwhelming, members are less
motivated to realistically appraise the alternative courses of action available to them.  These
group pressures lead to carelessness and irrational thinking since groups experiencing groupthink
fail to consider all alternatives and seek to maintain unanimity.  Decisions shaped by groupthink
have low probability of achieving successful outcomes.

Decision experts have determined that groupthink may be prevented by adopting some of the
following measures:     

a) The leader should assign the role of critical evaluator to each member
b) The leader should avoid stating preferences and expectations at the outset
c) Each member of the group should routinely discuss the groups' deliberations with a trusted
associate and report back to the group on the associate's reactions
d) One or more experts should be invited to each meeting on a staggered basis.  The outside
experts should be encouraged to challenge views of the members.
e) At least one articulate and knowledgeable member should be given the role of devil's
advocate (to question assumptions and plans)
f) The leader should make sure that a sizeable block of time is set aside to survey warning
signals from rivals; leader and group construct alternative scenarios of rivals' intentions.

Social influence refers to attempts to affect or change other people. Power is the capacity or
ability to change the beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors of others. We often think about power in
terms of how individuals try to influence one another, but a group has collective power.
Conformity occurs through influence from the group, either by providing information about
appropriate behavior or through implied or actual group pressure. In addition, obedience occurs
through influence from the leader or high-status person in the group. There is an important
distinction between compliance and acceptance. Compliance is a change in behaviors due to
pressure or influence, but it is not a change in beliefs or attitudes. Acceptance is a change in both
behaviors and attitudes due to social pressure. However, if individuals are repeatedly influenced
to change their behaviors, they often internally justify the new way of behaving. Therefore,
changing behaviors often leads to changes in attitudes. Why do people change because of social
influence? Social psychologists provide two main reasons for the effects of social influence:
normative influence and informational influence (Deutsch & Gerard, 1955). Normative influence
is change based on the desire to meet the expectations of others and be accepted by others.
Informational influence is change based on accepting information about a situation from others.

Conformity - conformity studies show that even when group pressure is merely implied, people
are willing to make bad judgments. The participants in these experiments were asked to select
which line was the same length as a target line. Participants who worked alone rarely made
mistakes. However, when participants were in a room with people giving the wrong answers, the
participants gave the wrong answers 37% of the time. Only 20% of participants remained
independent and did not give in to group pressure. The others conformed to group pressure even
though there was no obvious pressure to conform (i.e., no rewards or punishments).

The level of conformity is affected by the group size and unanimity. A group of about five
people shows most of the conformity effects. There is not much difference in conformity when
using larger groups (Rosenberg, 1961). Unanimity is very important. Many of the conformity
effects are greatly reduced with limited social support for acting independently

Obedience- obedience studies show that people are obedient to authority figures even when the
requested behaviors are inappropriate. In these obedience studies, participants believed they were
part of a learning experiment. They were asked to give an electric shock to a learner whenever
the learner made a mistake. They also were told to increase the level of shock with each mistake.
Nearly all participants were willing to administer mild shocks; most (65%) continued to
administer shocks even after they had been informed that the learner had a heart condition or the
learner had stopped responding, and they could see that the shocks being administered had
increased to dangerous levels. The level of obedience in these studies was influenced by several
factors. The more legitimate the authority figure, the more likely people were to be obedient.
They were more likely to obey when the authority figure was in the room monitoring their
performance. Whenever possible, participants did not shock the learner and lied to the authority
figure about it. The closer the participants were to the victim (and could see or hear the victim’s
pain), the less obedience there was. Finally, when there was a group of people running the shock
device, participants were less obedient if one other person refused to obey.

Power - Team members use various types of power to influence one another and the team. The
types of power that members possess can be examined in several ways. The study of bases of
power is concerned with the sources of power, whereas the study of influence tactics examines
how various power tactics are used. There are two types of power that an individual can have in
a group or organization: personal or soft power, and positional or harsh power. Personal or soft
power derives from an individual’s characteristics or personality and includes expert, referent,
and information power. Positional or harsh power is based on an individual’s formal position in
an organization. It includes legitimate, reward, and coercive power. It is summarised below:
a) Personal / Soft Power
Expert - Power based on one’s credibility or perceived expertise in an area.
Referent - Power based on another’s liking and admiration.
Information - Power based on the knowledge or information one has about a topic.
b) Positional or harsh power
Legitimate - Power based on the recognition and acceptance of a person’s authority.
Reward - The ability to reward (reinforce) a desired behavior.
Coercive - The ability to threaten or punish undesirable behavior

The types of power are related to each other and often used together. For example, the more one
uses coercive power, the less one is liked, so one has less personal or soft power. The more
legitimate power one has, the more reward and coercive power one typically has. Because team
leaders have less legitimate power than traditional managers, they often rely on expert and
referent power to influence the team

The use of the personal sources of power is often more effective than the use of positional
sources. One reason for this is that the targets of influence are more likely to resist the use of
positional power and are less satisfied with its use. Because of this, leaders typically prefer using
expert power most often and coercive power least often. However, the use of expert power is
limited. The fact that someone is an expert in one area does not make him or her an expert at
everything. Reward and coercive power can be used to influence people to do what is desired,
but people do it only because of the reward or fear of punishment. The result is compliance but
not acceptance. These strategies are useful for changing overt behaviors, but not for changing
attitudes and beliefs; the influencer has to monitor the behaviors to ensure that results are
forthcoming. Teamwork should rely on the personal power of team members. Group decision
making is better when people who are most expert or have relevant information to add dominate
the discussion, rather than when people who have the authority to make decisions dominate.
Cooperation is more likely to be encouraged by using personal power sources than by using
threats of punishment by team leaders. When team leaders rely on positional power to get their
teams to comply with their requests, members are likely to feel manipulated and may resist.

Influence Tactics Team members can use a variety of social influence tactics to influence one
another. Their use depends on the target for influence (e.g., subordinate, peer, superior) and the
objective of the influence (e.g., assign task, get support, gain personal benefit). Below are the
common Social Influence Tactics

 Rational argument; Use of logical arguments and factual information to persuade

 Consultation; Seek a person’s participation in the decision
 Inspirational appeals; Attempt to arouse enthusiasm by appealing to a person’s ideals.
 Personal appeals; Appeal to a person’s sense of loyalty or friendship.
 Ingratiation; Use of flattery or friendly behavior to get a person to think favorably of you
 Exchange; Offer to exchange favors later for compliance now.
 Pressure; Use of demands, threats, or persistent reminders.
 Legitimizing tactics; Make claims that one has the authority to make the request.
 Coalition tactics; Seek the aid and support of others to increase power of request.

Power Dynamics - The use of power changes the dynamics of the group process. Unequal
power changes the way the leader treats other team members and the way members communicate
with one another. Subgroups that disagree with the majority can have substantial influence on
how the team operates. The level of interdependence among team members changes the power
they have over one another.

Power is rewarding, so people with power often want more of it. It has a corrupting influence;
people with more power often give themselves a higher share of rewards. It is easy for someone
with power to give commands rather than make requests. Because powerful people get mostly
positive feedback from subordinates, they begin to care less about what subordinates say and
have an inflated view of their own worth. This is summarised below;

 Access to power increases the probability it will be used.

 The more power is used, the more the power holders believe they are in control.
 As the power holders take credit, they view the target as less worthy.
 As the target’s worth is decreased, social distance increases.
 Use of power elevates the self-esteem of the powerful.

Groups vary in the ways power is distributed. When groups have unequal power levels among
members, there tends to be more mistrust, less communication, and more social problems than in
more egalitarian groups. Groups with powerful leaders tend to have less communication and
more autocratic decision making, thereby reducing the quality of team decisions.

Unequal power is often caused by status differences, which have an impact on team
communication. High-status members talk more and are more likely to address the entire group.
Members communicate more with high-status people and pay more attention to what they say.
Low-status members often talk less and are unwilling to state their true opinions if they differ
from those of high-status people. Consequently, when high-status people speak, people either
agree or say nothing, so highstatus people have more influence in group discussions. This
communication pattern does not lead to good decision making or to satisfied and motivated team
members.

In theory, a team should have only equal-status communication, but this is not always the case.
The team leader may assume a higher status than the other team members. A team is sometimes
composed of members with different levels of status within the organization. Team members
should leave their external status positions at the door so that everyone on the team has equal
status. However, it is difficult to interact as an equal with someone in one situation and be
deferential in other situations.

When power is unequal because of status or other factors, a team can try to improve the situation
by using group norms to equalize power and control communication. Norms level the playing
field in a group. They equalize power by putting constraints on the behaviors of powerful
members. For example, the norm of majority rule in decision making limits the power of the
leader. The group may have norms that encourage open and shared communication, prevent the
use of intimidation or threats, and value independent thinking. All these help reduce the impact
of power differences in the group.
Minority Influence - a group may contain individuals or subgroups that resist group pressure. A
minority may resist the leader and group pressure, and eventually be influential in changing the
group. The ability of minorities to influence the majority group depends on their consistency,
self-confidence, belief in their autonomy, and relationship to the group overall. Minorities
become influential by sticking to their positions (Nemeth, 1979).

When minorities are consistent, they make the majority think about its position. A group can put
quite a bit of pressure on minorities to change, so it takes self-confidence to resist this pressure.
Minorities must appear to be autonomous and able to make their own choices if they are to be
influential. If the minorities are viewed as being supported or influenced by an outside group,
their impact is reduced. Finally, minorities must appear to be part of the group. They are less
effective if they reject the group or are always seen as dissenters.
It can be difficult to be a minority team member who disagrees with the majority. Because of the
desire to be accepted by the team, individuals are often unwilling to disagree or even present an
alternative view of an idea. When minority opinions have some support within the team, they are
more likely to be expressed and accepted by the team. Teams that create a climate of trust and
psychological safety encourage members to express their unique opinions. An important value of
a minority is its ability to stimulate team members to view an issue from multiple perspectives.
When a minority disagrees with the team’s view of a situation, the team is encouraged to rethink
its position and generate more alternative views. The overall effect of this is to encourage more
flexible thinking, which increases creativity and innovation. The minority may not get its way,
but over time it will have a substantial impact on how the team thinks and acts.
 Impact of Interdependence Task interdependence is the degree to which completing a task
requires the interaction of team members. Teams with high levels of interdependence are more
likely to be effective if they have autonomy, or the power and authority to control how they
operate. In highly interdependent teams, autonomy allows team members to work together more
efficiently, control their own interactions, and increase internal coordination. These actions help
improve performance. In teams with low levels of interdependence, the team members are
accustomed to working independently, so increases in communication and coordination do not
help improve performance.
Interdependence may help a team perform better by changing the amount of power team
members have over one another. Dependence in a relationship is one of the bases of power.
Heightened levels of overall task interdependence are associated with increased personal power.
The more team members need one another to complete a task, the more power each team
member has over the group.

Peer Pressure among Children and Adolescents

Peers play a large role in the social and emotional development of children and adolescents.
Their influence begins at an early age and increases through the teenage years. It is natural,
healthy and important for children to have and rely on friends as they grow and mature.Peers can
be positive and supportive. They can help each other develop new skills, or stimulate interest in
books, music or extracurricular activities.
However, peers can also have a negative influence. They can encourage each other to skip
classes, steal, cheat, use drugs or alcohol, or become involve in other risky behaviors. The
majority of teens with substance abuse problems began using drugs or alcohol as a result of peer
pressure.

Kids often give in to peer pressure because they want to fit in. They want to be liked and they
worry that they may be left out or made fun of if they don't go along with the group.
The following are some tips to help kids deal with peer pressure:
 Stay away from peers who pressure you to do things that seem wrong or dangerous.
 Learn how to say "no," and practice how to avoid or get out of situations which feel
unsafe or uncomfortable.
 Spend time with other kids who resist peer pressure. It helps to have at least one friend
who is also willing to say "no."
 If you have problems with peer pressure, talk to a grown up you trust, like a parent,
teacher or school counselor.
Parents can also help by recognizing when their child is having a problem with peer pressure.
The following are tips for parents to help your child deal with peer pressure:
 Encourage open and honest communication. Let kids know they can come to you if
they're feeling pressure to do things that seem wrong or risky.
 Teach your child to be assertive and to resist getting involved in dangerous or
inappropriate situations or activities.
 Get to know your child's friends. If issues or problems arise, share your concerns with
their parents.
 Help your child develop self-confidence. Kids who feel good about themselves are less
vulnerable to peer pressure.
 Develop backup plans to help kids get out of uncomfortable or dangerous situations. For
example, let them know you'll always come get them, no questions asked, if they feel
worried or unsafe.
If your child has ongoing difficulties with peer pressure, talk to his or her teacher, principal,
school counselor or family doctor. If you have questions or concerns about your child's mood,
self-esteem or behavior, consider a consultation with a trained and qualified mental health
professional.

Steps in Dealing with Group Pressure

1. Think about what the group wants you to do and why.
 Listen to other people.
 Decide what they really mean.
 Try to understand what is said.
2. Decide what you want to do.
 Yield. Resist. Delay. Negotiate.
3. Decide how to tell the group what you want to do.
 Give reasons.
  Talk to one person only.
 Delay.
 Assert yourself.
4. Tell the group what you have decided

LEADERSHIP AND GROUP PERFORMANCE

Leadership is not the power to coerce others, an inborn trait, a necessity of group life, or a
mysterious capacity to heal sick groups. Instead, leadership is the process by which an individual
guides others in their collective pursuits, often by organizing, directing, coordinating, supporting,
and motivating their efforts. Leadership, then, is not a static characteristic of an individual or a
group, but a complex of interpersonal processes whereby cooperating individuals are permitted
to influence and motivate others to promote the attainment of group and individual goals. These
processes are reciprocal, transactional, transformational, cooperative, and adaptive.

a) Leadership is a reciprocal process, involving the leader, the followers, and the group
situation. The leader does not just influence the group members; rather, the leader–follower
relationship is mutual. An interactional view assumes that leadership cannot be understood
independently of followership—the skills and qualities displayed by non leaders.
b) Leadership is a transactional process, in which leaders and followers work together,
exchanging their time, energies, and skills to increase their joint rewards.
c) Leadership is a transformational process, for leaders heighten group members’ motivation,
confidence, and satisfaction by uniting members and changing their beliefs, values, and
needs.
d) Leadership is a cooperative process of legitimate influence rather than sheer power. The
right to lead is, in most instances, voluntarily conferred on the leader by some or all
members of the group, with the expectation that the leader is motivated by the group’s
collective needs rather than his or her own interests.
e) Leadership is an adaptive, goal-seeking process, for it organizes and motivates group
members’ attempts to attain personal and group goals.

A distinction is often drawn between leadership and other forms of influence in groups and
organizations, such as management and supervision. Leaders often hold supervisory positions in
groups, but holding a position does not always translate into leadership; there are many bosses,
supervisors, and managers who are not leaders. Conversely, many individuals in groups and
organizations who do not hold formal positions of authority are leaders, for they influence others
as they pool their efforts in the pursuit of shared goals.

Leadership Emergence
Scholars have debated this question for centuries. In the 19th century, for example, the historian
Thomas Carlyle offered up his great leader theory of history (Carlyle called it the “great man”
theory). He asserted that leaders do not achieve their positions by accident or twist of fate.
Rather, these individuals possess certain characteristics that mark them for greatness. Carlyle
(1841) believed that leaders are different from followers, so history could be best studied by
considering the contributions of the few great men and women.

The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy disagreed. To Tolstoy, such leaders as Alexander the Great
and Napoleon came to prominence because the spirit of the times—the zeitgeist—was propitious
for the dominance of a single individual, and the qualities of the person were largely irrelevant to
this rise to power. Tolstoy’s zeitgeist theory posited that the conquests and losses of military
leaders such as Napoleon were caused not by their decisions and skills but by uncontrollable
aspects of the historical situation.

These two perspectives—Carlyle’s great leader theory and Tolstoy’s zeitgeist approach—
continue to shape theoretical analyses of leadership emergence. The great leader theory is
consistent with a trait approach to leadership, which assumes that leaders possess certain
personality traits and characteristics and that these characteristics are responsible for their rise in
the leadership ranks. Tolstoy’s zeitgeist view, in contrast, is consistent with situationism, which
suggests that leadership is determined by a host of variables operating in the leadership situation,
including the size of the group, its cohesion, the quality of leader-member relations, and the type
of task to be performed.

An interactional approach to leadership, however, reconciles these two models by asserting that
traits and situations interact to determine who will lead and who will not. If a group is about to
disintegrate because of heated conflicts among the members, for example, the effective leader
will be someone who can improve the group’s interpersonal relations. Similarly, if individuals
possess skills that facilitate performance on intellectual tasks but undermine performance on
artistic tasks, then they are likely to emerge as effective leaders only if the group is working on
intellectual tasks.

Personality Characteristics That Are Reliably Associated with Leadership Emergence

Assertiveness The relationship between assertiveness and leadership emergence is

curvilinear;individuals who are either low in assertiveness or very high in assertiveness are less
likely to be identified as leaders.

Authenticity Individuals who are more aware of their personality qualities, including their values
andbeliefs, and are less biased when processing self-relevant inform

Big Five personality factorsThose who emerge as leaders tend to be more extraverted,
conscientious, emotionally stable, and open to experience, although these tendencies are stronger
in laboratory studies of leaderless groups.
Birth order Those born first in their families and only children are hypothesized to be more
driven to seek leadership and control in social settings. Middle-born children tend to accept
follower roles in groups, and later-borns are thought be rebellious and creative.

Character strengths Those seeking leadership positions in a military organization had elevated
scores on a number of indicators of strength of character, including honesty, hope, bravery,
industry, and teamwork (Matthews et al., 2006).

Dominance Individuals with dominant personalities—they describe themselves as high in the

desire to control their environment and influence other people, and are likely to express their
opinions in a forceful way—are more likely to act as leaders in small-group situations.

Gender identity Masculine individuals are more likely to emerge as leaders than are feminine
individuals.

Narcissism Individuals who take on leadership roles in turbulent situations, such as groups
facing a threat or ones in which status is determined by intense competition among rivals within
the group, tend to be narcissistic: arrogant, self-absorbed, hostile, and very self-confident.

Self-efficacy for leadership Confidence in one’s ability to lead is associated with increases in
willingness to accept a leadership role and success in that role.

Self-monitoring High self-monitors are more likely to emerge as the leader of a group than are
low selfmonitors, since they are more concerned with status-enhancement and are more likely to
adapt their actions to fit the demands of the situation.

Social motivation Individuals who are both success-oriented and affiliation-oriented, as assessed
by projective measures, are more active in group problem-solving settings and are more likely to
be elected to positions of leadership in such groups.

Group Leardership

Intelligence - Groups generally prefer leaders who are more intelligent than the average group
member, but too great a discrepancy introduces problems in communication, trust, and social
sensitivity. Although highly intelligent individuals may be extremely capable and efficient
leaders, their groups may feel that large differences in intellectual abilities translate into large
differences in interests, attitudes, and values. Hence, although high intelligence may mean skilled
leadership, a group prefers to be “ill-governed by people it can understand”.

Emotional Intelligence When people think of intelligence, they often stress cognitive abilities
such as mathematics, verbal skill, and intellectual problem solving. But some people are also
interpersonally intelligent: They have the ability to understand and relate to people, for they deal
with others wisely and effectively. They have elevated emotional intelligence: “the ability to
perceive emotions in self and others; to understand how emotions blend, unfold, and influence
cognition and behavior; to use emotions to facilitate thinking; and to manage emotions in self
and others”. Skill in communicating and decoding emotions is essential for an effective leader.
The emotionally intelligent leader can see problems coming, for such problems are often
conveyed indirectly by others’ moods and emotions. Better able to read the politics of the
situation, such leaders can detect shifting alliances and recognize where to put their energies and
when to bide their time. They can also communicate their ideas to others in more robust ways,
for they can use their own emotional energy to influence others. They are also less likely to lose
control of their emotions—they are not inappropriately angry, critical, or histrionic. In
consequence, emotional intelligence is associated with various aspects of leadership, including
emergence as a leader, willingness to cooperate with others, empathy for others, the tendency to
take others’ perspectives, and the emotional intensity of one’s interpersonal relations.

Skills and Experience When groups work collectively on tasks, individuals with more expertise
usually rise higher in the group’s leadership hierarchy. Groups are more accepting of leaders
who have previously demonstrated task ability and are more willing to follow the directions of a
task-competent person than those of an incompetent person. Furthermore, although high task
ability facilitates leadership, low task ability seems to be an even more powerful factor in
disqualifying individuals from consideration as leaders. Initially, if group members do not know
one another well, then they may rely on diffuse status characteristics such as rank, age, and
tenure with the group to infer expertise, but over time they will shift to specific, behavioral cues
to determine who is competent and who is not. Given enough experience in working together,
most group members can distinguish between the skilled and the unskilled

Participation Individuals with much to offer the group—those who are intelligent, emotionally
adept, and highly skilled at the tasks the group must complete—may nonetheless not emerge as a
leader if they are disengaged from the group and its activities. Leaders are active within their
groups rather than aloof; they show up for meetings, they ask questions, they offer comments
and suggestions, they talk to other members on the phone, and they send out emails. Group
members take note of participant rate in part because it tells them who is interested in the group
and is willing to take responsibility for its performance. One of the surest ways to escape serving
as the leader of a group is to not say much during meetings.

Group Development and Facilitative Leadership

In group context facilitation skills show up multifaceted within a developmental framework and
process. It spans a range that incorporates seemingly polar opposites such as being directive and
non-directive, being a leader and a follower. Facilitation is the art of actively and skillfully
employing a wide variety of functions and roles that ultimately result in displacing oneself.

Phases of Group Development Tasks of the Facilitator

FORMING DIRECTING
• Structuring the group and setting
the tone
• Clarifying goals and expectations
 • Building group connections

STORMING MANAGING
• Resolving points of conflict
• Normalizing tension and
discomfort
• Being a non-anxious catalyst for
confrontation

NORMING CONSULTING
o Defining one’s position and ideas
o Sharing leadership role
• Incorporating diversity and
creativity
PERFORMING SUPPORTING
• Celebrating group performance
• Letting go to support group process
• Preparing for closure & evaluation
issues

Factors identified that affected group performance

1. .Leadership, nominated leaders, emergent leaders, task leaders, social leaders.

2. Domination, blocking, defensive behaviour.
3. Conflict, agreement and disagreement.
4. Language barriers, multinational members, nationality and culture.
5. Speed of interaction, multiple and concurrent discussions, interruptions and ability to
interrupt.
6. Nature of tasks, characteristics of participants, purpose of the meeting, meeting
environment context and situation.
7. Procedures, rules, norms, rituals, roles.
8. Reluctant communicators, confidence, non-speakers, non-participants, social loafers.
9. Lack of interest distraction.
10. Participation, number of words spoken, number of communication acts used, duration of
interaction, participation at different phases of the discussion, turn-taking.
11. Cooperative roles, supportive communication, encouraging participation, engaging all
group members, cohesiveness.
12. Activity between meetings, addressing problems, developing relationships between
meetings, encouraging purposeful participation
13. Agenda, organising and structuring the meeting, distributing tasks.
14. Engagement, asking questions, prompting participants, seeking opinions.
 15. Groups can become too blasé and can fail to challenge convention wisdom. Such issues
are symptomatic of groupthink. Participants should be encouraged to engage and
challenge others. While new members with new ideas may not be readily accepted they
can add different dimensions to discussions.
16. Physical barriers that prevent free flow of information. Verbal and nonverbal exchanges
should be free flowing unhindered by the environment in which the meeting is conducted.
17. Vested interests: Individual members or subgroups may place their own agendas above
that of the group. Where different members place a high priority on their own needs this
often results in constant unproductive battles
18. Domination: Domination by a single member at the expense of other members
opportunity to interact
19. Lack of supportive norms: Too much criticism can stifles suggestions – criticism should
be balanced with constructive support

Ways of Ensuring Groups Effectiveness:

For a group to be effective and focused , it requires attention to each of the following:

1. Clear Expectations: The leaders must clearly tell the members of the expected
performance and the members must understand the reason for its creation. For it the
organization must support the team with resources of people, time and money.
2. Commitment:Team members must participate in the team, feel that the team mission is
important, and show commitment to accomplishing the team mission and expected
outcomes. Commitment will come if team members perceive their service as valuable to
the organization and to their own careers.
3. Competence:Team members must have the knowledge, skill and capabilities, the
resources, strategies and support needed to accomplish its mission to address the issues
for which the team was formed.
4. Control:The team must have not only enough freedom and empowerment to feel the
ownership necessary to accomplish its charter, but also the accountability. There has to
be a defined review process.
5. Collaboration:The team should understand group processes and work effectively and
cooperatively with other members of the team. For it they have to understand the roles
and responsibilities of team members, team leaders, and team recorders.
6. Communication:To make team members clear about the priority of their tasks, and
receive regular feedback, team members must clearly and honestly with each other.
Diverse opinions be welcome and conflicts be taken up positively.
7. Creativity:The team should value creative thinking, unique solutions, and new ideas;
and reward members who take reasonable risks to make improvements. If necessary, it
should provide the training, education, access to books and films, and field trips to
stimulate new thinking.The creative development of new products, new technologies,
new services, or new organizational structures is possible because teams may have
variety of skills needed for successful innovation.Team members can uncover each
 other’s flaws and balance each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Managers should
empower the team and make it accountable for the innovation process.
8. CoordinationTeam efforts need to be coordinated by a central leadership team that
assists the groups to obtain what they need for success.The cross- functional and multi-
department teams must work together effectively. The organization should develop a
customer-focused and process-focused orientation and move away from traditional
departmental thinking.

MOTIVATIONAL PROCESSES IN GROUPS

Work motivation aim to understand:

(1) which conditions encourage people to invest behavioral energy in their work
(energize),
(2) which activities people are likely to focus their efforts on (direction), and
(3) what makes people persist in such efforts over time (persistence

Why do people join together with others in groups? In part, the motivation comes from within
the members themselves, for people’s personalities, preferences, and other personal qualities
predispose them to affiliate with others. But the tendency to affiliate with others also comes from
without—from the situation itself. People often seek the company of others when they need
information, social support, or companionship.

Social motivations, unlike the more biologically based motivations such as hunger and thirst,
influence people’s interpersonal behaviors, and include the need for affiliation, intimacy, and
power.

Need for Affiliation ;People who seek out contact with other people often have a high need for
affiliation. People with a high need for affiliation tend to join groups more frequently, spend
more of their time in groups, communicate more with other group members, and accept other
group members more readily. However, they are also more anxious in social situations, perhaps
because they are more fearful of rejection by others. When others treat them badly or reject them,
they avoid people rather than seek them out.

Need for Intimacy Individuals who have a high need for intimacy, like those who have a high
need for affiliation, prefer to join with others. Such individuals, however, seek close, warm
relations and are more likely to express caring and concern for other people. They do not fear
rejection but, instead, are more focused on friendship, camaraderie, reciprocity, and mutual help.
In one study, researchers gave people electronic pagers for one week and asked them to write
down what they were doing and how they felt each time they were beeped. People who had a
high need for intimacy were more frequently interacting with other people when beeped. They
were also happier than people with a low need for intimacy if they were with other people when
they were beeped.
Need for Power Because group interactions provide many opportunities to influence others,
those with a high need for power also tend to seek out groups. Researchers studied college
students’ power needs by asking them to recall 10 recent group interactions that lasted for at least
15 minutes. The students described what had happened in each episode, what had been
discussed, and their role in the group. Those with a high power motive took part in relatively
fewer dyadic interactions but in more large-group interactions (groups with more than four
members). They also reported exercising more control in these groups by organizing and
initiating activities, assuming responsibility, and attempting to persuade others. This relationship
between the need for power and participation in groups was stronger for men.

Groups offer members a way to satisfy these basic needs. If, for example, someone has a strong
need to receive and express inclusion, she/he will probably prefer to do things in a group rather
than to perform tasks individually. If she needs to express control, she may seek membership in a
group that she can control. Or if she wishes to receive affection from others, she may seek out
other people who seem warm and friendly. In general, then, the greater the intensity of these
needs in any given individual, the more likely that person is to take steps to create or seek out
membership in a group.

What Motivates Leaders to Use a Style of Leardership

What factors determine control? They include leader–member relations, taskstructure, and
position power.
Leader–member relations. What is the quality ofthe relationship between the leader and
thegroup? If the group is highly cohesive andrelatively conflict-free, the leader will be
lessconcerned with peacekeeping and monitoringbehavior.
Task structure. Do group members clearly understandwhat is expected of them? When
taskstructure is high, the group’s tasks are straightforwardand have only one right solution,whose
correctness is easily verified. Tasks thatare unstructured, in contrast, are ambiguous,admit many
correct solutions, and offer no one
correct way of reaching the goal.
Position power. How much authority does theleader possess? Leaders with high positionpower
can control rewards, punishments, salaries,hiring, evaluation, and task assignment. Insome
groups, on the other hand, the leadermay have relatively little power.

Step in Motivation

Steps that managers can take to better support their employees in motivating themselves.

 First, managers need to write down what they think motivates each of their employees
and ask the employee to do the same. They then compare results with the employee and
discuss the differences and misconceptions.
 Next, the results are used to establish a reward system based on self-stated motivational
factors.
 Finally, managers need to reward and acknowledge positive behaviors. Employees need
to know when an organizational goal has been met as a result of their actions. They need
to clearly understand their specific action or actions that led to the goal being met. Once
this is done it is a time to celebrate. Celebration among the team of a job well done is the
first step in accomplishing the next organizational goal.