PERSONALITY

LIANDRO L. SERRANO, PhD, RGC, LPT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain the nature of personality.
2. Discuss Freud’s description of the unconscious
mind and its levels.
3. Compare and contrast the different perspective
of neo-Freudian theories.
4. Describe the humanistic views of Rogers and
Maslow.
5. Discuss how trait theories describe personality.
6. Illustrate and explain the principle of reciprocal
determinism.
 PERSONALITY
It is a term used in everyday lives. When asked to
describe yourself or your best friend, you would
likely start with statement like, “My personality
is more like an extravert” or “My friend’s
personality is very likeable”. You often use the
word personality to describe one’s
characteristics, traits or behavior.
Reality television shows will request you to vote
through text message of the person you would
like to stay in the television. Chances are, you
will vote for the person who has a good or
pleasing personality. But, what is the really
the meaning of personality? How will you
describe personality in using one word?
If you are asked to
define personality,
you would
probably describe
the term as the
qualities you like
or dislike in a
person. This way
of defining a
person is called
“general
definition”.
Meaning, you only
describe a person
according to your
own impression.
Psychologists now has a more scientific way of giving
meaning to personality which is more formal.
Personality is the
dynamic
organization within
the individual of
those
psychophysical
systems that
determine his unique
adjustments to the
environment (Allport,
1937).
Personality is that
which permits a
prediction of what a
person will do in a
given situation
(Cattell, 1950).
Personality is the more
or less stable and
enduring organization
of a person’s
character,
temperament, intellect
and physique which
determines his or her
unique adjustment to
the environment
(Eysenck, 1967).
Personality is the distinctive and characteristic
patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior that
make up an individual’s personal style of
interacting with the physical and social
environment (Nolen-Hoeksema, Frederickson,
Loftus and Wagenaar, 2009).
Personality is the consistency in who you
are, have been, and will become (Coon,
2005).
All of the definition given by psychologists
can be summarized as “the individual’s
unique and consistent patterns of behaving,
thinking and feeling as he or she interacts
with the environment”. In other words,
different people will have different reactions
to the same situation.
Example: You and your best
friend joined a dance
contest. Unfortunately,
you did not win. You may
view this situation as a
learning experience and
work hard to improve your
dance moves. Whereas,
your best friend may
perceive this as a
negative experience and
would likely stop joining
dance contests in the
future.
SOME IMPORTANT THEORIES OF PERSONALITY
PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH
Focuses on the inner workings of personality especially internal
conflicts and struggles
HUMANISTIC APPROACH
Gives emphasis on the concept of “self-acceptance” and
“self-actualization”
TRAIT APPROACH
Attempts to learn what trait makes up personality and how they
relate to actual behavior
BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL COGNITION APPROACH
Explains consistent behavioral patterns as the result of
conditioning and expectations
 PSYCHODYNAMIC
APPROACH
This theory is based on
Sigmund Freud (856-1939).
His work paved the way for
other psychodynamic theorists
to “look into the uses of
behavior in a dynamic
interplay of inner forces that
often conflicts with one
another”. He developed the
power of the unconscious
mind which eventually
became the central theme of
his theory.
Conscious thoughts includes the mental thoughts that you are
currently aware of—contains mainly of everyday experiences.
Pre-conscious thoughts involves mental thoughts that can easily
be retrieved through conscious effort. Example: What is your
most embarrassing moment?
Unconscious thoughts are those that we are not aware of.
These thoughts are those that we cannot easily access.
According to Freud, “you cannot bring unconscious materials
into consciousness except under extreme conditions.”
Subconscious thoughts are those that lays under the
consciousness that functioned as a recorder of a person's early
life; which also brings certain behavioral patterns.
STRUCTURES OF PERSONALITY

To understand more of the concept of

personality, Freud presented three
structures of the mind namely the id,
ego and the superego
Id operated on the demands of the
“pleasure principle” or “instant
gratification”, and which is found at
the unconscious level. The main goal
is to obtain immediate satisfaction of
needs, impulses and urges.
Example: If you are thirsty, the id will tell
you to drink right away (need); if you see
your enemy, the id will demand you to
punch this person (impulse); if there’s a
desire to watch pornographic film, the id
will insist that you give in to your urges
instantly (urge). In other words, the id must
get what it wants immediately without
considering the consequence.
Ego or the “reality principle” works
within the conscious level. Its main
function is to delay the id’s demands
for instant gratification to a more
appropriate situation or condition. As
a result, the ego is basically the
executive function of the personality.
Superego is the moral principle which
operates under strict moral codes. There
are two divisions to this: conscience and
the ego ideal. Conscience decides on
what is right and what is wrong according
to the norms of the society. Whereas the
ego-ideal refers to the individual’s desire
to become a perfectly moral person based
on the influence of the conscience.
For instance:
During class time while your professor is
discussing the topic of the day, your cellular phone
vibrates, alerting you that you have an incoming
message. The id will insist you to look at your phone
right away and read the message, while the superego
will tell you that it is wrong and unethical to look into it
while your professor is having a class. In this situation,
if you have a strong ego, you will ask permission to
go out and read it outside.
DEFENSE MECHANISMS
The id, ego and the superego are all part of the
individual’s dynamic personality. However,
since the demands of the id and superego
usually contradicts each other, the ego would
often experience anxiety. According Freud,
when the id or superego threatens to take over
the ego, or there is an imminent danger that will
affect the ego, the individual will suffer from
anxiety.
“The ego, in order to cope with the situation,
will use defense mechanisms. These are the
strategies used to reduce anxiety by
distorting perceptions of reality.”
DEFENSE MECHANISM DESCRIPTION EXAMPLES
Repression Unconscious blocking of Forgetting traumatic physical
unpleasant or painful assaults experienced during
memories or experiences childhood
from reaching the
conscious level
Sublimation Impulses that are not Diverting destructive feelings
acceptable to society are toward an enemy by painting
transformed into a more abstract arts
suitable or conventional
behavior
Displacement Diverting sexual or A teacher criticizes her student,
aggressive impulses from a student criticizes her
its original focus to another classmate
person, object or situation
Denial Refusal to accept an A mother insists that her child
unpleasant reality is normal despite the doctor’s
diagnosis of mental retardation

Projection Denying one’s undesirable Accusing others of cheating

traits and attributing them during exam when in fact you
to others have a great desire to cheat
 PSYCHOANALYTIC
APPROACH
This theory is based on Carl
Jung (1875-1961). His work
“the collective unconscious”
are thoughts and images we
inherited from our ancestors.
All people are born with
these unconscious materials
consisting of primordial
images or archetypes such
as the mother, the father, the
wise old man, the sun,
moon, the hero, death and
God.
 INDIVIDUAL
PSYCHOLOGY
This theory of Alfred Adler
(1870-1937) introduced the
concept of inferiority and
striving for superiority. He
claimed that life in general
begins with a sense of
inferiority, that in order for an
infant to survive, he/she will
have to depend on others.
That is why, according to
Adler, people will always strive
for superiority to compensate
for the deficiency caused by
the feelings of inadequacy or
inferiority.
 PERSON-CENTERED
THEORY
Carl Rogers (1902-1987)
maintained that “good life is a
process, not a state of being; it
is a direction, nor a
destination.” He believes that
man strives to become a fully
functioning individual by being
realistic, open to new
experiences, and continually
developing a self-concept. In
order for a person to be
fully-functioning, parents
should have an unconditional
positive regard for their
children.
 THEORY OF
PREPOTENT NEEDS
Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)
views humans with optimism.
He created the hierarchy of
needs stating that lower needs
must be satisfied in order to
reach the higher levels of
needs. He held that
“self-actualizing people have
a deep feeling of sympathy
and affection for all human
beings in general. They feel
kinship and connection, as if
all people were members of
a single family.”
 LOGOTHERAPY
Victor Frankl (1905-1997)
views humans as innately
good and capable of
forgiveness. He was a Nazzi
survivor—the basis of his
work which is “The Man’s
Search for Meaning.”
Finding the meaning in our
personal lives gives way to
healing that enables people
to overcome painful and the
most dehumanizing
experiences in their lives. He
said that, “in order to give
light, you must endure the
burning.”
METHODS IN ASSESSING
PERSONALITY
It is common that when people ask a
psychologist, they think that they can
read people’s minds just be looking at
them. In opposition to this, there are
methods used by psychologists to
assess personality. These are:
 INTERVIEW
Psychologists do the
interview to determine
the personality and
background of a
person. It is a face to
face interaction
between the two of
them for the purpose of
obtaining individual’s
personal history,
characteristics, traits,
feelings, past and
present relationships.
 BEHAVIORAL
OBSERVATION
This is to find out the actual
behavior of a person in a
given situation. Example: the
psychologist wants to know if
you are sociable and will
observe you interacting with
different types of people. In
this case, the psychologist
would be able to determine if
you indeed possess the trait
“sociable”.
 PERSONALITY
TESTS
This is a reliable test made to
give an understanding about
your current emotional state,
and other tests measures
intellectual states. Self-report
is the most common types of
personality test with
questions that best describes
you. For example, you are to
answer questions with
choices in a form of a Likert
scale: A, SA, N, D and SD.
 PROJECTIVE
TESTS
This is used to project your
unconscious motives,
conflicts, thoughts, and
feelings through the
presentation of ambiguous
materials. You will be
presented with a series of
ambiguous pictures and be
asked to create a story for
each picture presented.
 TOPIC QUESTIONS
1. How do psychologists describe personality?
2. How do psychodynamic theory explain
personality?
3. How do psychodynamic theory differ from
humanistic theory?
4. What are the methods involved in assessing
personality?