DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE AND ETHICS CONSIDERATIONS

DATA AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

FINALS: TOP

Holistic Dynamic Theory by Abraham Maslow

I. Who was Abraham H. Maslow?

Abraham H. Maslow was born in New York in 1908, the oldest of seven children of Russian Jewish immigrants. After two
or three mediocre years as a college student, his work improved at about the time he was married. He received both a
bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin where he worked with Harry Harlow conducting animal
studies. Most of his professional career was spent at Brooklyn College and at Brandeis University. Poor health forced him
to move to California where he died in 1970 at age 62.

II. Maslow's View of Motivation

Maslow's theory rests on five basic assumptions about motivation: (1) the whole organism is motivated at any one time;
(2) motivation is complex, and unconscious motives often underlie behavior; (3) people are continually motivated by one
need or another; (4) people in different cultures are all motivated by the same basic needs; and (5) needs can be
arranged on a hierarchy.

III. Hierarchy of Needs

A. Conative Needs

Maslow held that lower level needs have prepotency over higher level needs; that is, they must be satisfied before
higher needs become motivators.

Maslow's hierarchy includes (1) physiological needs, such as oxygen, food, water, and so on; (2) safety needs, which
include physical security, stability, dependency, protection, and freedom from danger, and which result in basic anxiety if
not satisfied; (3) love and belongingness needs, including the desire for friendship, the wish for a mate and children, and
the need to belong; (4) esteem needs, which follow from the satisfaction of love needs and which include self-confidence
and the

recognition that one has a positive reputation; and (5) self-actualization needs, which are satisfied only by the
psychologically healthiest people.

Unlike other needs that automatically are activated when lower needs are met, self-actualization needs do not inevitably
follow the satisfaction of esteem needs. Only by embracing such B-values as truth, beauty, oneness, and justice, can
people achieve self-actualization.
The five needs on Maslow's hierarchy are conative needs. Other needs include aesthetic needs, cognitive needs, and
neurotic needs.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow posited that human needs are arranged in a hierarchy:

B. Aesthetic Needs

Aesthetic needs include a desire for beauty and order, and some people have much stronger aesthetic needs than do
others. When people fail to meet their aesthetic needs, they become sick.

C. Cognitive Needs

Cognitive needs include the desire to know, to understand, and to be curious. Knowledge is a prerequisite for each of the
five conative needs. Also, people who are denied knowledge and kept in ignorance become sick, paranoid, and
depressed.

D. Neurotic Needs

With each of the above three dimensions of needs, physical or psychological illness results when the needs are not
satisfied. Neurotic needs, however, lead to pathology regardless of whether they are satisfied or not. Neurotic needs
include such motives as a desire to dominate, to inflict pain, or to subject oneself to the will of another person. Neurotic
needs are nonproductive and do not foster health.

E. General Discussion of Needs

Maslow believed that most people satisfy lower level needs to a greater extent than they do higher levels needs, and
that the greater the satisfaction of one need, the more fully the next highest need is likely to emerge. In certain rare
cases, the order of needs might be reversed. For example, a starving mother may be motivated by love needs to give up
food in order to feed her starving children. However, if we understood the unconscious motivation behind many
apparent reversals, we would see that they are not genuine reversals at all.

Thus, Maslow insisted that much of our surface behavior is actually motivated by more basic and often unconscious
needs. Maslow also believed that some expressive behaviors are unmotivated, even though all behaviors have a cause.
Expressive behavior has no aim or goal but is merely a person's mode of expression.

In comparison, coping behaviors (which are motivated) deal with a person's attempt to cope with the environment. The
conative needs ordinarily call forth coping behaviors. Deprivation of any of the needs leads to pathology of some sort.
For example, people's inability to reach self-actualization results in metapathology, defined as an absence of values, a
lack of fulfillment, and a loss of meaning in life.
Maslow suggested that instinctoid needs are innately determined even though they can be modified by learning. Maslow
also believed that higher level needs (love, esteem, and self-actualization) are later on the evolutionary scale than lower
level needs and that they produce more genuine happiness and more peak experiences.

IV. Who are self-actualizers?

Maslow believed that a very small percentage of people reach an ultimate level of psychological health called self-
actualization.

A. Values of Self-Actualizers

Maslow held that self-actualizers are metamotivated by such B-values as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, and simplicity.

B. Criteria for Self-Actualization

Four criteria must be met before a person achieves self-actualization: (1) absence of psychopathology, (2) satisfaction of
each of the four lower level needs, (3) acceptance of the B-values, and (4) full realization of one's potentials for growth.

C. Characteristics of Self-Actualizing People

Maslow listed 15 qualities that characterize self-actualizing people, although not all self-actualizers possess each of the
characteristics to the same extent.

These characteristics are (1) more efficient perception of reality, meaning that self-actualizers often have an almost
uncanny ability to detect phoniness in others, and they are not fooled by sham; (2) acceptance of self, others, and
nature;

(3) spontaneity, simplicity, and naturalness, meaning that self-actualizers have no need to appear complex or
sophisticated; (4) problem-centered which is the ability to view age-old problems from a solid philosophical position; (5)
the need for privacy, or a detachment that allows self-actualizing people to be alone without being lonely;

(6) autonomy, meaning that they no longer are dependent on other people for their self-esteem; (7) continued freshness
of appreciation and the ability to view everyday things with a fresh vision and appreciation; (8) frequent reports of peak
experiences, or those mystical experiences that give a person a sense of transcendence and feelings of awe, wonder,
ecstasy, reverence, and humility; (9) Gemeinschaftsgefühl, that is, social interest or a deep feeling of oneness with all
humanity; (10) profound interpersonal relations, but with no desperate need to have a multitude of friends; (11) the
democratic character structure, or the ability to disregard superficial differences between people; (12) discrimination
between means and ends, meaning that self-actualizing people have a clear sense of right and wrong, and they
experience little conflict about basic values; (13) a philosophical sense of humor that is spontaneous, unplanned, and
intrinsic to the situation; (14) creativeness, with a keen perception of truth, beauty, and reality; (15) resistance to
enculturation, or the ability to set personal standards and to resist the mold set by culture.

D. Love, Sex, and Self-Actualization

Maslow compared D-love (deficiency love) to B-love (love for being or essence of another person). Self-actualizing
people are capable of B-love because they can love without expecting something in return. B-love is mutually felt and
shared and not based on deficiencies within the lovers.

V. Measuring Self-Actualization

Maslow's method for measuring self-actualization were consistent with his philosophy of science. He began his study of
self-actualizing people with little evidence that such a classification of people even existed. He looked at healthy people,
learned what they had in common, and then established a syndrome for psychological health. Next, he refined the
definition of self-actualization, studied other people, and changed the syndrome. He continued this process until he was
satisfied that he had a clear definition of self-actualization.

Other researchers have developed personality inventories for measuring self -actualization. The most widely used of
these is Everett Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory (POI), a 150-item forced-choice inventory that assesses a
variety of self-actualization facets.

VI. The Jonah Complex

Because humans are born with a natural tendency to move toward psychological health, any failure to reach self-
actualization can technically be called abnormal development. One such abnormal syndrome is the Jonah complex, or
fear of being or doing one's best, a condition that all of us have to some extent. Maslow believed that many people allow
false humility to stifle their creativity, which causes them to fall

short of self-actualization.

VII. Concept of Humanity

Maslow believed that people are structured in such a way that their activated needs are exactly what they want most.
Hungry people desire food, frightened people look for safety, and so forth. Although he was generally optimistic and
hopeful, Maslow saw that people are capable of great evil and destruction. He believed that as a species, humans are
becoming more and more fully human and motivated by higher level needs.

In summary, Maslow's view of humanity rates high on free choice, optimism, teleology, and uniqueness and about
average on social influences.

Person Centered Theory by Carl Rogers

I. Who was Carl Rogers?

Carl Rogers was born into a devoutly religious family in a Chicago suburb in 1902. After the family moved to a farm near
Chicago, Carl became interested in scientific farming and learned to appreciate the scientific method. When he
graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Rogers intended to become a minister, but he gave up that notion and
completed a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University in 1931. In 1940, after nearly a dozen years away from an
academic life working as a clinician, he took a position at Ohio State University. Later, he held positions at the University
of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin. In 1964, he moved to California where he helped found the Center for
Studies of the Person. He died in 1987 at age 85.

II. Person-Centered Theory

Rogers carefully crafted his person-centered theory of personality to meet his own demands for a structural model that
could explain and predict outcomes of client-centered therapy. However, the theory has implications far beyond the
therapeutic setting.

A. Basic Assumptions

Person-centered theory rests on two basic assumptions:

(1) the formative tendency, which states that all matter, both organic and inorganic, tends to evolve from simpler to more
complex forms, and

(2) an actualizing tendency, which suggests that all living things, including humans, tend to move toward completion, or
fulfillment of potentials.

However, in order for people (or plants and animals) to beome actualized, certain identifiable conditions must be
present. For a person, these conditions include a relationship with another person who is genuine, or congruent, and
who demonstrates complete acceptance and empathy for that person.

B. The Self and Self-Actualization

A sense of self or personal identity begins to emerge during infancy, and, once established, it allows a person to strive
toward self-actualization, which is a subsystem of the actualization tendency and refers to the tendency to actualize the
self as perceived in awareness.

The self has two subsystems: (1) the self-concept, which includes all those aspects of one's identity that are perceived in
awareness, and (2) the ideal self, or our view of our self as we would like to be or aspire to be.

Once formed, the self-concept tends to resist change, and gaps between it and the ideal self result in incongruence and
various levels of psychopathology.

C. Awareness

People are aware of both their self-concept and their ideal self, although awareness need not be accurate or at a high
level.

Rogers saw people as having experiences on three levels of awareness:

(1) those that are symbolized below the threshold of awareness and are either ignored or denied, that is, subceived, or
not allowed into the self-concept;

(2) those that are distorted or reshaped to fit it into an existing self-concept; and
(3) those that are consistent with the self-concept and thus are accurately symbolized and freely admitted to the self-
structure.

Any experience not consistent with the self-concept-even positive experiences-will be distorted or denied.

D. Needs

The two basic human needs are maintenance and enhancement, but people also need positive regard and self-regard.

Maintenance needs include those for food, air, and safety, but they also include our tendency to resist change and to
maintain our self-concept as it is.

Enhancement needs include needs to grow and to realize one's full human potential. As awareness of self emerges, an
infant begins to receive positive regard from another person-that is, to be loved or accepted.

People naturally value those experiences that satisfy their needs for positive regard, but, unfortunately, this value
sometimes becomes more powerful than the reward they receive for meeting their organismic needs. This sets up the
condition of incongruence, which is experienced when basic organismic needs are denied or distorted in favor of needs
to be loved or accepted.

As a result of experiences with positive regard, people develop the need for self-regard, which they acquire only after
they perceive that someone else cares for them and values them. Once established, however, self-regard becomes
autonomous and no longer dependent on another's continuous positive evaluation.

E. Conditions of Worth

Most people are not unconditionally accepted. Instead, they receive conditions of worth; that is, they feel that they are
loved and accepted only when and if they meet the conditions set by others.

F. Psychological Stagnation

When the organismic self and the self-concept are at variance with one another, a person may experience incongruence,
which includes vulnerability, threat, defensiveness, and even disorganization. The greater the incongruence between
self-concept and the organismic experience, the more vulnerable that person becomes.

Anxiety exists whenever the person becomes dimly aware of the discrepancy between organismic experience and self-
concept, whereas threat is experienced whenever the person becomes more clearly aware of this incongruence. To
prevent incongruence, people react with defensiveness, typically in the forms of distortion and denial.

With distortion, people misinterpret an experience so that it fits into their self-concept; with denial, people refuse to
allow the experience into awareness.

When people's defenses fail to operate properly, their behavior becomes disorganized or psychotic. With disorganization,
people sometimes behave consistently with their organismic experience and sometimes in accordance with their
shattered self-concept.

III. Psychotherapy
For client-centered psychotherapy to be effective, certain conditions are necessary: A vulnerable client must have contact
of some duration with a counselor who is congruent, and who demonstrates unconditional positive regard and listens
with empathy to a client.

The client must in turn perceive the congruence, unconditional positive regard, and empathy of the therapist. If these
conditions are present, then the process of therapy will take place and certain predictable outcomes will result.

A. Conditions

Three conditions are crucial to client-centered therapy, and Rogers called them the necessary and sufficient conditions
for therapeutic growth.

The first is counselor congruence, or a therapist whose organismic experiences are matched by an awareness and by the
ability and willingness to openly express these feelings. Congruence is more basic than the other two conditions because
it is a relatively stable characteristic of the therapist, whereas the other two conditions are limited to a specific
therapeutic relationship.

Unconditional positive regard exists when the therapist accepts the client without conditions or qualifications. Empathic
listening is the therapist's ability to sense the feelings of a client and also to communicate these perceptions so that the
client knows that another person has entered into his or her world of feelings without prejudice, projection, or
evaluation.

B. Process

Rogers saw the process of therapeutic change as taking place in seven stages:

(1) clients are unwilling to communicate anything about themselves; (2) they discuss only external events and other
people; (3) they begin to talk about themselves, but still as an object; (4) they discuss strong emotions that they have felt
in the past; (5) they begin to express present feelings; (6) they freely allow into awareness those experiences that were
previously denied or distorted; and (7) they experience irreversible change and growth.

C. Outcomes

When client-centered therapy is successful, clients become more congruent, less defensive, more open to experience,
and more realistic. The gap between their ideal self and their true self narrows and, as a consequence, clients experience
less physiological and psychological tension. Finally, clients' interpersonal relationships improve because they are more
accepting of self and others.

IV. The Person of Tomorrow

Rogers was vitally interested in the psychologically healthy person, called the "fully functioning person" or the "person of
tomorrow."

Rogers listed seven characteristics of the person of tomorrow. The person of tomorrow (1) is able to adjust to change, (2)
is open to experience, (3) is able to live fully in the moment, (4) is able to have harmonious relations with others, (5) is
more integrated with no artificial boundaries between conscious and unconscious processes, (6) has a basic trust of
human nature, and (7) enjoys a greater richness in life. The factors have implications both for the individual and for
society.

V. The Chicago Study

When he taught at the University of Chicago, Rogers, along with colleagues and graduate students, conducted a
sophisticated and complex study on the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

A. Hypotheses

This study tested four broad hypotheses. As a consequence of therapy (1) clients will become more aware of their
feelings and experiences, (2) the gap between the real self and the ideal self will lessen; (3) clients' behavior will become
more socialized and mature; and (4) clients will become both more self-accepting and more accepting of others.

B. Method

Participants were adults who sought therapy at the University of Chicago counseling center. Experimenters asked half of
them to wait 60 days before receiving therapy while beginning therapy with the other half. In addition, they tested a
control group of "normals" who were matched with the therapy group. This control group was also divided into a wait
group and a non-wait group.

C. Findings

Rogers and his associates found that the therapy group-but not the wait group-showed a lessening of the gap between
real self and ideal self. They also found that clients who improved during therapy-but not those rated as least improved-
showed changes in social behavior, as noted by friends.

D. Summary of Results

Although client-centered therapy was successful in changing clients, it was not successful in bringing them to the level of
the fully functioning persons or even to the level of "normal" psychological health.

VI. Concept of Humanity

Rogers believed that humans have the capacity to change and grow-provided that certain necessary and sufficient
conditions are present. Therefore, his theory rates very high on optimism. In addition, it rates high on free choice,
teleology, conscious motivation, social influences, and the uniqueness of the individual

Existential Psychology by Rollo May

I. Biography of Rollo May

Rollo May was born in Ohio in 1909, but grew up in Michigan. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1930, he spent
three years roaming throughout eastern and southern Europe as an itinerant artist. When he returned to the United
States, he entered the Union Theological Seminary, from which he received a Master of Divinity degree. He then served
for two years as a pastor, but quit in order to pursue a career in psychology. He received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology
from Columbia in 1949 at the age of 40. During his professional career, he served as lecturer or visiting professor at a
number of universities, conducted a private practice as a psychotherapist, and wrote a number of popular books on the
human condition. May died in 1994 at age 85.

II. Background of Existentialism

Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher and theologian, is usually considered to be the founder of modern
existentialism. Like later existentialists, he emphasized a balance between freedom and responsibility. People acquire
freedom of action by expanding their self-awareness and by assuming responsibility for their actions. However, this
acquisition of freedom and responsibility is achieved at the expense of anxiety and dread.

A. What Is Existentialism?

The first tenet of existentialism is that existence take precedence over essence, meaning that process and growth are
more important than product and stagnation. Second, existentialists oppose the artificial split between subject and
object. Third, they stress people's search for meaning in their lives. Fourth, they insist that each of us is responsible for
who we are and what we will become. Fifth, most take an antitheoretical position, believing that theories tend to
objectify people.

B. Basic Concepts

According to existentialists, a basic unity exists between people and their environments, a unity expressed by the term
Dasein, or being-in-the-world. Three simultaneous modes of the world characterize us in our Dasein: Umwelt, or the
environment around us; Mitwelt, or our world with other people; and Eigenwelt, or our relationship with our self. People
are both aware of themselves as living beings and also aware of the possibility of nonbeing or nothingness. Death is the
most obvious form of nonbeing, which can also be experienced as retreat from life's experiences.

III. Anxiety

People experience anxiety when they become aware that their existence or something identified with it might be
destroyed. The acquisition of freedom inevitably leads to anxiety, which can be either pleasurable and constructive or
painful and destructive.

May proposed the following definition of anxiety: “Anxiety is the apprehension cued off by a threat to some value that
the individual holds essential to his or her existence as a person” (1977). Anxiety is an inevitable characteristic of human
being (1983), a given. Anxiety is objectless “because it strikes at that basis of the psychological structure on which the
perception of one’s self as distinct from the world of object occurs” (1977). Thus in anxiety, the distinction between self
and object breaks down, Engler (2014) .
A. Normal Anxiety

Growth produces normal anxiety, defined as that which is proportionate to the threat, does not involve repression, and
can be handled on a conscious level.

B. Neurotic Anxiety

Neurotic anxiety is a reaction that is disproportionate to the threat and that leads to repression and defensive behaviors.
It is felt whenever one's values are transformed into dogma. Neurotic anxiety blocks growth and productive action.

IV. Care, Love, and Will

Care is an active process that suggests that things matter. Love means to care, to delight in the presence of another
person, and to affirm that person's value as much as one's own. Care is also an important ingredient in will, defined as a
conscious commitment to action.

A. Union of Love and Will

May believed that our modern society has lost sight of the true nature of love and will, equating love with sex and will
with will power. He further held that psychologically healthy people are able to combine love and will because both
imply care, choice, action, and responsibility.

B. Forms of Love

May identified four kinds of love in Western tradition: sex, eros, philia, and agape. May believed that Americans no
longer view sex as a natural biological function, but have become preoccupied with it to the point of trivialization. Eros is
a psychological desire that seeks an enduring union with a loved one. It may include sex, but it is built on care and
tenderness. Philia, an intimate nonsexual friendship between two people, takes time to develop and does not depend on
the actions of the other person. Agape is an altruistic or spiritual love that carries with it the risk of playing God. Agape is
undeserved and unconditional.

V. Freedom and Destiny

Psychologically healthy individuals are comfortable with freedom, able to assume responsibility for their choices, and
willing to face their destiny.

A. Freedom Defined

Freedom comes from an understanding of our destiny. We are free when we recognize that death is a possibility at any
moment and when we are willing to experience changes, even in the face of not knowing what those changes will bring.

Freedom means “openness, ready to grow, flexibility, and changing in the pursuit of greater human values” (May, 1953).
It entails our capacity to take a hand in our development, (Engler, p.375, 2014).
B. Forms of Freedom

May recognized two forms of freedom:

(1) freedom of doing, or freedom of action, which he called existential freedom, and

(2) freedom of being, or an inner freedom, which he called essential freedom.

C. Destiny Defined

May defined destiny as "the design of the universe speaking through the design of each one of us." In other words, our
destiny includes the limitations of our environment and our personal qualities, including our mortality, gender, and
genetic predispositions. Freedom and destiny constitute a paradox, because freedom gains vitality from destiny, and
destiny gains significance from freedom.

VI. The Power of Myth

According to May, the people of contemporary Western civilization have an urgent need for myths. Because they have
lost many of their traditional myths, they turn to religious cults, drugs, and popular culture to fill the vacuum. The
Oedipus myth has had a powerful effect on our culture because it deals with such common existential crises as birth,
separation from parents, sexual union with one parent and hostility toward the other, independence in one's search for
identity, and, finally, death.

VII. The Case of Philip

Rollo May helped illustrate his notion of existentialism with the case of Philip, a successful architect in his mid-50s.
Despite his apparent success, Philip experienced severe anxiety when his relationship with Nicole (a writer in her mid-
40s) took a puzzling turn. Uncertain of his future and suffering from low self-esteem, Philip went into therapy with Rollo
May. Eventually, Philip was able to understand that his difficulties with women were related to his early experiences with
a mother who was unpredictable and an older sister who suffered from severe mental disorders. However, he began to
recover only after he accepted that his "need" to take care of unpredictable Nicole was merely part of his personal
history with unstable women.

Philip's Destiny

After some time in therapy, Philip was able to stop blaming his mother for not doing what he thought she should have
done. The objective facts of his childhood had not changed, but Philip's subjective perceptions had. As he came to terms
with his destiny, Philip began to be able to express his anger, to feel less trapped in his relationship with Nicole, and to
become more aware of his possibilities. In other words, he gained his freedom of being.

VIII. Concept of Humanity

May viewed people as complex beings, capable of both tremendous good and immense evil. People have become
alienated from the world, from other people, and, most of all, from themselves. On the dimensions of a concept of
humanity, May rates high on free choice, teleology, social influences, and uniqueness. On the issue of conscious or
unconscious forces, his theory takes a middle position.
Behavioral Analysis by BF Skinner

I. Who was B. F. Skinner?

B. F. Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania in 1904, the older of two brothers. While in college, Skinner wanted
to be a writer, but after having little success in this endeavor, he turned to psychology. After earning a Ph.D. from
Harvard, he taught at the Universities of Minnesota and Indiana before returning to Harvard, where he remained until
his death in 1990.

II. Overview of Skinner's Behavioral Analysis

Unlike any theory discussed to this point, the radical behaviorism of B. F. Skinner avoids speculations about hypothetical
constructs and concentrates almost exclusively on observable behavior. Besides being a radical behaviorist, Skinner was
also a determinist and an environmentalist; that is, he rejected the notion of free will, and he emphasized the primacy of
environmental influences on behavior.

III. Precursors to Skinner's Scientific Behaviorism

Modern learning theory has roots in the work of Edward L. Thorndike and his experiments with animals during the last
part of the 19th century. Thorndike's law of effect stated that responses followed by a satisfier tend to be learned, a
concept that anticipated Skinner's use of positive reinforcement to shape behavior.

Skinner was even more influenced by John Watson, who argued that psychology must deal with the control and
prediction of behavior and that behavior-not introspection, consciousness, or the mind-is the basic data of scientific
psychology.

IV. Scientific Behaviorism

Skinner believed that human behavior, like any other natural phenomena, is

subject to the laws of science, and that psychologists should not attribute inner motivations to it. Although he rejected
internal states (thoughts, emotions, desires, etc.) as being outside the realm of science, Skinner did not deny their
existence. He simply insisted that they should not be used to explain behavior.

A. Philosophy of Science

Skinner believed that, because the purpose of science is to predict and control, psychologists should be concerned with
determining the conditions under which human behavior occurs so that they can predict and control it.

B. Characteristics of Science

Skinner held that science has three principle characteristics: (1) its findings are cumulative, (2) it rests on an attitude that
values empirical observation, and (3) it searchers for order and lawful relationships.
V. Conditioning

Skinner recognized two kinds of conditioning: classical and operant.

A. Classical Conditioning

In classical conditioning, a neutral (conditioned) stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it is capable of
bringing about a previously unconditioned response, now called the conditioned response.

For example, Watson and Rayner conditioned a young boy to fear a white rat (the conditioned stimulus) by associating it
with a loud, sudden noise (an unconditioned stimulus). Eventually, through the process of generalization, the boy learned
to fear stimuli that resembled the white rat.

B. Operant Conditioning

With operant conditioning, reinforcement is used to increase the probability that a given behavior will recur. Three
factors are essential in operant conditioning: (1) the antecedent, or environment in which behavior takes place; (2) the
behavior, or response; and (3) the consequence that follows the behavior.

Psychologists and others use shaping to mold complex human behavior. Different histories of reinforcement result in
operant discrimination, meaning that different organisms will respond differently to the same environmental
contingencies. People may also respond similarly to different environmental stimuli, a process Skinner called stimulus
generalization.

Anything within the environment that strengthens a behavior is a reinforcer. Positive reinforcement is any stimulus that
when added to a situation increases the probability that a given behavior will occur.

Negative reinforcement is the strengthening of behavior through the removal of an aversive stimulus.

Both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behavior.

Any event that decreases a behavior either by presenting an aversive stimulus or by removing a positive one is called
punishment.

The effects of punishment are much less predictable than those of reward. Both punishment and reinforcement can
result from either natural consequences or from human imposition.

Conditioned reinforcers are those stimuli that are not by nature satisfying (e.g., money), but that can become so when
they are associated with a primary reinforcer, such as food.

Generalized reinforcers are conditioned reinforcers that have become associated with several primary reinforcers.
Reinforcement can follow behavior on either a continuous schedule or on an intermittent schedule. There are four basic
intermittent schedules: (1) fixed-ratio, on which the organism is reinforced intermittently according to the number of
responses it makes; (2) variable-ratio, on which the organism is reinforced after an average of a predetermined number
of responses; (3) fixed-interval, on which the organism is reinforced for the first response following a designated period
of time; and (4) variable interval, on which the organism is reinforced after the lapse of varied periods of time.

The tendency of a previously acquired response to become progressively weakened upon non-reinforcement is called
extinction.

Such elimination or weakening of a response is called classical extinction in a classical conditioning model and operant
extinction when the response was acquired through operant conditioning.

VI. The Human Organism

Skinner believed that human behavior is shaped by three forces: (1) natural selection, (2) cultural practices, and (3) the
individual's history of reinforcement (discussed above).

1. Natural Selection

As a species, our behavior is shaped by the contingencies of survival; that is, those behaviors (e.g., sex and aggression)
that were beneficial to the human species tended to survive, whereas those that did not tended to drop out.

2. Cultural Evolution

Those societies that evolved certain cultural practices (e.g. tool making and language) tended to survive. Currently, the
lives of nearly all people are shaped, in part, by modern tools (computers, media, various modes of transportation, etc.)
and by their use of language. However, humans do not make cooperative decisions to do what is best for their society,
but those societies whose members behave in a cooperative manner tended to survive.

Inner States

Skinner recognized the existence of such inner states as drives and self-awareness, but he rejected the notion that they
can explain behavior. To Skinner, drives refer to the effects of deprivation and satiation and thus are related to the
probability of certain behaviors, but they are not the causes of behavior.

Skinner believed that emotions can be accounted for by the contingencies of survival and the contingencies of
reinforcement; but like drives, they do not cause behavior. Similarly, purpose and intention are not causes of behavior,
although they are sensations that exist within the skin.

Complex Behavior

Human behavior is subject to the same principles of operant conditioning as simple animal behavior, but it is much more
complex and difficult to predict or control.
Skinner explained creativity as the result of random or accidental behaviors that happen to be rewarded. Skinner
believed that most of our behavior is unconscious or automatic and that not thinking about certain experiences is
reinforcing.

Skinner viewed dreams as covert and symbolic forms of behavior that are subject to the same contingencies of
reinforcement as any other behavior.

Control of Human Behavior

Ultimately, all of a person's behavior is controlled by the environment. Societies exercise control over their members
through laws, rules, and customs that transcend any one person's means of counter control.

There are four basic methods of social control: (1) operant conditioning, including positive and negative reinforcement
and punishment; (2) describing contingencies, or using language to inform people of the consequence of their behaviors;
(3) deprivation and satiation, techniques that increase the likelihood that people will behave in a certain way; and (4)
physical restraint, including the jailing of criminals.

Although Skinner denied the existence of free will, he did recognize that people manipulate variables within their own
environment and thus exercise some measure of self-control, which has several techniques: (1) physical restraint, (2)
physical aids, such as tools; (3) changing environmental stimuli; (4) arranging the environment to allow escape from
aversive stimuli; (5) drugs; and (6) doing something else.

VII. The Unhealthy Personality

Social control and self-control sometimes produce counteracting strategies and inappropriate behaviors.

A. Counteracting Strategies

People can counteract excessive social control by (1) escaping from it, (2)revolting against it, or (3) passively resisting it.

B. Inappropriate Behaviors

Inappropriate behaviors follow from self-defeating techniques of counteracting social control or from unsuccessful
attempts at self-control.

VIII. Concept of Humanity

Skinner's concept of humanity was a completely deterministic and causal one that emphasized unconscious behavior and
the uniqueness of each person's history of reinforcement within a mostly social environment. Unlike many determinists,
Skinner is quite optimistic in his view of humanity.
Social Cognitive Theory by Albert Bandura

I. Who was Albert Bandura?

Albert Bandura was born in Canada in 1925, but he has spent his entire professional life in the United States. He
completed a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa in 1951 and since then has worked almost entirely at
Stanford University. He died on July 26, 2021 at age 95 in Stanford, California.

II. Overview of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura's social cognitive theory takes an agentic perspective, meaning that humans have some limited ability to control
their lives.

In contrast to Skinner, Bandura (1) recognizes that chance encounters and fortuitous events often shape one's behavior;
(2) places more emphasis on observational learning; (3) stresses the importance of cognitive factors in learning; (4)
suggests that human activity is a function of behavior and person variables, as well as the environment; and (5) believes
that reinforcement is mediated by cognition.

III. Learning

People learn through observing others and by attending to the consequences of their own actions. Although Bandura
believes that reinforcement aids learning, he contends that people can learn in the absence of reinforcement and even
of a response.

A. Observational Learning

The heart of observational learning is modeling, which is more than simple imitation, because it involves adding and
subtracting from observed behavior.

At least three principles influence modeling: (1) people are most likely to model high-status people, (2) people who lack
skill, power, or status are most likely to model, and (3) people tend to model behavior that they see as being rewarding
to the model.

Bandura recognized four processes that govern observational learning: (1) attention, or noticing what a model does; (2)
representation, or symbolically representing new response patterns in memory; (3) behavior production, or producing
the behavior that one observes; and (4) motivation; that is, the observer must be motivated to perform the observed
behavior.

B. Enactive Learning

All behavior is followed by some consequence, but whether that consequence reinforces the behavior depends on the
person's cognitive evaluation of the situation.
IV. Reciprocal Determinism

Social cognitive theory holds that human functioning is molded by the reciprocal interaction of (1) behavior; (2) person
variables, including cognition; and (3) environmental events-a model Bandura calls reciprocal determinism.

A. Differential Contributions

Bandura does not suggest that the three factors in the reciprocal determinism model make equal contributions to
behavior. The relative influence of behavior, environment, and person depends on which factor is strongest at any
particular moment.

B. Chance Encounters and Fortuitous Events

The lives of many people have been fundamentally changed by a chance meeting with another person or by a fortuitous,
unexpected event. Chance encounters and fortuitous events enter the reciprocal determinism paradigm at the
environment point, after which they influence behavior in much the same way as do planned events.

V. Human Agency

Bandura believes that human agency is the essence of humanness; that is, humans are defined by their ability to
organize, regulate, and enact behaviors that they believe will produce desirable consequences. Human agency has four
core features:

(1) intentionality, or a proactive commitment to actions that may bring about desired outcomes; (2) foresight, or the
ability to set goals; (3) self-reactiveness, which includes people monitoring their progress toward fulfilling their choices;
and (4) self-reflectiveness, which allows people to think about and evaluate their motives, values, and life goals.

VI. Self System

The self system gives some consistency to personality by allowing people to observe and symbolize their own behavior
and to evaluate it on the basis of anticipated future consequences. The self system includes both self-efficacy and self-
regulation.

A. Self-Efficacy

How people behave in a particular situation depends in part on their self-efficacy-that is, their beliefs that they can or
cannot exercise those behaviors necessary to bring about a desired consequence.
Efficacy expectations differ from outcome expectations, which refer to people's prediction of the likely consequences of
their behavior. Self-efficacy combines with environmental variables, previous behaviors, and other personal variables to
predict behavior.

It is acquired, enhanced, or decreased by any one or combination of four sources: (1) mastery experiences or
performance, (2) social modeling, or observing someone of equal ability succeed or fail at a task; (3) social persuasion, or
listening to a trusted person's encouraging words; and (4) physical and emotional states, such as anxiety or fear, which
usually lowers self-efficacy. High self-efficacy and a responsive environment are the best predictors of successful
outcomes.

B. Proxy Agency

Bandura has recently recognized the influence of proxy agency through which people exercise some partial control over
everyday living. Successful living in the 21st century requires people to seeks proxies to supply their food, deliver
information, provide transportation, etc. Without the use of proxies, modern people would be forced to spend most of
their time securing the necessities of survival.

C. Collective Efficacy

Collective efficacy is the level of confidence that people have that their combined efforts will produce social change. At
least four factors can lower collective efficacy. First, events in other parts of the world can leave people with a sense of
helplessness; second, complex technology can decrease people's perceptions of control over their environment; third,
entrenched bureaucracies discourage people from attempting to bring about social change; and fourth, the size and
scope of world-wide problems contribute to people's sense of powerlessness.

D. Self-Regulation

By using reflective thought, humans can manipulate their environments and produce consequences of their actions,
giving them some ability to regulate their own behavior. Bandura believes that behavior stems from a reciprocal
influence of external and internal factors.

Two external factors contribute to self-regulation: (1) standards of evaluation, and (2) external reinforcement. External
factors affect self-regulation by providing people with standards for evaluating their own behavior.

Internal requirements for self-regulation include: (1) self-observation of performance; (2) judging or evaluating
performance; (3) and self-reactions, including self-reinforcement or self-punishment. Internalized self-sanctions prevent
people from violating their own moral standards either through selective activation or disengagement of internal control.

VI. Dysfunctional Behavior

Dysfunctional behavior is learned through the mutual interaction of the person (including cognitive and
neurophysiological processes), the environment (including interpersonal relations), and behavioral factors (especially
previous experiences with reinforcement).
Aggressive Behaviors

When carried to extremes, aggressive behaviors can become dysfunctional. In a study of children observing live and
filmed models being aggressive, Bandura and his associates found that aggression tends to foster more aggression.

VII. Concept of Humanity

Bandura sees humans as being relatively fluid and flexible. People can store past experiences and then use this
information to chart future actions. Bandura's theory rates near the middle on teleology versus causality and high on
free choice, optimism, conscious influences, and uniqueness. As a social cognitive theory, it rates very high on social
determinants of personality.

Psychology of Personal Constructs by Kelly

I. Who was George Kelly?

George Kelly was born on a farm in Kansas in 1905. During his school years and his early professional career, he dabbled
in a wide variety of jobs, but he eventually received a Ph.D. in psychology from the State University of Iowa. He began his
academic career at Fort Hays State College in Kansas, then after World War II, he took a position at Ohio State. He
remained there until 1965 when he joined the faculty at Brandeis. He died two years later at age 61.

II. Overview of Kelly's Personal Construct Theory

Kelly's theory of personal constructs can be seen as a metatheory, or a theory about theories. It holds that people
anticipate events by the meanings or interpretations that they place on those events. Kelly called these interpretations
personal constructs. His philosophical position, called constructive alternativism, assumes that alternative interpretations
are always available to people.

III. Kelly's Philosophical Position

Kelly believed that people construe events according to their personal constructs rather than reality.

A. Person as Scientist

People generally attempt to solve everyday problems in much the same fashion as scientists; that is, they observe, ask
questions, formulate hypotheses, infer conclusions, and predict future events.

B. Scientist as Person

Because scientists are people, their pronouncements should be regarded with the same skepticism as any other data.
Every scientific theory can be viewed from an alternate angle, and every competent scientist should be open to changing
his or her theory.
C. Constructive Alternativism

Kelly believed that all our interpretations of the world are subject to revision or replacement, an assumption he called
constructive alternativism. He further stressed that, because people can construe their world from different angles,
observations that are valid at one time may be false at a later time.

IV. Personal Constructs

Kelly believed that people look at their world through templates that they create and then attempt to fit over the
realities of the world. He called these templates or transparent patterns personal constructs, which he believed shape
behavior.

A. Basic Postulate

Kelly expressed his theory in one basic postulate and 11 supporting corollaries. The basic postulate assumes that human
behavior is shaped by the way people anticipate the future.

B. Supporting Corollaries

The 11 supporting corollaries can all be inferred from this basic postulate:

(1) Although no two events are exactly alike, we construe similar events as if they were the same, and this is Kelly's
construction corollary.

(2) The individuality corollary states that because people have different experiences, they can construe the same event in
different ways.

(3) The organization corollary assumes that people organize their personal constructs in a hierarchical system, with some
constructs in a superordinate position and others subordinate to them.

(4) The dichotomy corollary assumes that people construe events in an either/or manner, e.g., good or bad. (5) Kelly's
choice corollary assumes that people tend to choose the alternative in a dichotomized construct that they see as
extending the range of their future choices.

(6) The range corollary states that constructs are limited to a particular range of convenience; that is, they are not
relevant to all situations.

(7) Kelly's experience corollary suggests that people continually revise their personal constructs as the result of their
experiences.

(8) The modulation corollary assumes that only permeable constructs lead to change; concrete constructs resist
modification through experience.

(9) The fragmentation corollary states that people's behavior can be inconsistent because their construct systems can
readily admit incompatible elements.

(10) The commonality corollary suggests that our personal constructs tend to be similar to the construction systems of
other people to the extent that we share experiences with them.
(11) The sociality corollary states that people are able to communicate with other people because they can construe
those people's constructions. With the sociality corollary, Kelly introduced the concept of role, which refers to a pattern
of behavior that stems from people's understanding of the constructs of others.

V. Roles

Each of us has a core role and numerous peripheral roles. A core role gives us a sense of identity whereas peripheral
roles are less central to our self-concept.

VI. Abnormal Development

Kelly saw normal people as analogous to competent scientists who test reasonable hypotheses, objectively view the
results, and willingly change their theories when the data warrant it. Similarly, unhealthy people are like incompetent
scientists who test unreasonable hypotheses, reject or distort legitimate results, and refuse to amend outdated theories.

Kelly identified four common elements in most human disturbances: (1) threat, or the perception that one's basic
constructs may be drastically changed; (2) fear, which requires an incidental rather than a comprehensive restructuring
of one's construct system; (3) anxiety, or the recognition that one cannot adequately deal with a new situation; and (4)
guilt, defined as "the sense of having lost one's core role structure.

VII. Concept of Humanity

Kelly saw people as anticipating the future and living their lives in accordance with those anticipations. His concept of
elaborative choice suggests that people increase their range of future choices by the present choices they freely make.
Thus, Kelly's theory rates very high in teleology and high in choice and optimism. In addition, it receives high ratings for
conscious influences and for its emphasis on the uniqueness of the individual. Finally, personal construct theory is about
average on social influences.

Psychology of the Individual by Allport

I. Who was Gordon Allport?

Gordon W. Allport was born in Indiana in 1897. He received an undergraduate degree in philosophy and economics from
Harvard, and taught in Europe for a year. While in Europe, he had a fortuitous meeting with Sigmund Freud in Vienna,
which helped him decide to complete a Ph.D. in psychology. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard, Allport spent two
years studying under some of the great German psychologists, but he returned to teach at Harvard. Two years later he
took a position at Dartmouth, but after four years at Dartmouth, he again returned to Harvard, where he remained until
his death in 1967.

II. Overview of Allport's Psychology of the Individual

Gordon Allport, whose major emphasis was on the uniqueness of each individual, built a theory of personality as a
reaction against what he regarded as the non-humanistic positions of both psychoanalysis and animal-based learning
theory. However, Allport was eclectic in his approach and accepted many of the ideas of other theorists.

III. Allport's Approach to Personality

Allport believed that psychologically healthy humans are motivated by present, mostly conscious drives and that they
not only seek to reduce tensions but to establish new ones. He also believed that people are capable of proactive
behavior, which suggests that they can consciously behave in new and creative ways that foster their own change and
growth. He called his study of the individual morphogenic science and contrasted it with traditional nomothetic
methods.

IV. Personality Defined

Allport defined personality as "the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his characteristic behavior and thought."

Each word in this definition is carefully chosen. Personality is dynamic (moving and changing), organized (structured),
psychophysical (involving both the mind and the body), determined (structured by the past and predisposing of the
future), and characteristic (unique foe each individual (Engler, p. 256, 2014).

V. Structure of Personality

According to Allport, the basic units of personality are personal dispositions and the proprium.

A. Personal Dispositions

Allport distinguished between common traits, which permit inter-individual comparisons, and personal dispositions,
which are peculiar to the individual. Personal disposition, is like a trait, a general determining characteristic, but it is
unique to the individual who has it (Engler, p. 257, 2014). He recognized three overlapping levels of personal
dispositions, the most general of which are cardinal dispositions that are so obvious and dominating that they can not be
hidden from other people. If a personal disposition is so pervasive that almost every behavior of the individual appears
to be influenced by it, then it is called a cardinal disposition (Engler, p. 257, 2014). Not everyone has a cardinal
disposition, but all people have 5 to 10 central dispositions, or characteristics around which their lives revolve. They
provide the adjectives or phrases a person might use in describing the essential characteristics of another individual in a
letter of recommendation (e.g., intelligent, responsible, independent, sensitive, caring), (Engler, p. 257, 2014).

In addition, everyone has a great number of secondary dispositions, which are less reliable and less conspicuous than
central traits. Allport further divided personal dispositions into (1) motivational dispositions, which are strong enough to
initiate action and (2) stylistic dispositions, which refer to the manner in which an individual behaves and which guide
rather than initiate action.

B. Proprium
The proprium refers to all those behaviors and characteristics that people regard as warm and central in their lives.
Allport preferred the term proprium over self or ego because the latter terms could imply an object or thing within a
person that controls behavior, whereas proprium suggests the core of one's personhood.

VI. Motivation

Allport insisted that an adequate theory of motivation must consider the notion that motives change as people mature
and also that people are motivated by present drives and wants.

A. Reactive and Proactive Theories of Motivation

To Allport, people not only react to their environment, but they also shape their environment and cause it to react to
them. His proactive approach emphasized the idea that people often seek additional tension and that they purposefully
act on their environment in a way that fosters growth toward psychological health.

B. Functional Autonomy

Allport's most distinctive and controversial concept is his theory of functional autonomy, which holds that some (but not
all) human motives are functionally independent from the original motive responsible for a particular behavior.

Allport recognized two levels of functional autonomy: (1) perseverative functional autonomy, which is the tendency of
certain basic behaviors (such as addictive behaviors) to continue in the absence of reinforcement, and (2) propriate
functional autonomy, which refers to self-sustaining motives (such as interests) that are related to the proprium.

C. Conscious and Unconscious Motivation

Although Allport emphasized conscious motivation more than any other personality theorist, he did not completely
overlook the possible influence of unconscious motives on pathological behaviors. Most people, however, are aware of
what they are doing and why they are doing it.

VII. The Psychologically Healthy Personality

Allport believed that people are motivated by both the need to adjust to their environment and to grow toward
psychological health; that is, people are both reactive and proactive. Nevertheless, psychologically healthy persons are
more likely to engage in proactive behaviors.

Allport listed six criteria for psychological health: (1) an extension of the sense of self, (2) warm relationships with others,
(3) emotional security or self-acceptance, (4) a realistic view of the world, (5) insight and humor, and (6) a unifying
philosophy of life.

VIII. The Study of the Individual

Allport strongly felt that psychology should develop and use research methods that study the individual rather than
groups.
A. Morphogenic Science

Traditional psychology relies on nomothetic science, which seeks general laws from a study of groups of people, but
Allport used idiographic or morphogenic procedures that study the single case. Unlike many psychologists, Allport was
willing to accept self-reports at face value.

B. The Diaries of Marion Taylor

In the late 1930's, Allport and his wife became acquainted with diaries written by woman they called Marion Taylor.
These diaries, along with descriptions of Marion Taylor by her mother, younger sister, favorite teacher, friends, and a
neighbor provided the Allport with a large quantity of material that could be studied using morphogenic methods.
However, Allport never published this material.

C. Letters from Jenny

Even though Allport never published data from Marion Taylor's dairies, he did publish a second case study, that of Jenny
Gove Masterson. Jenny had written a series of 301 letters to Gordon and Ada Allport, whose son had been a roommate
of Jenny's son. Two of Gordon Allport's students, Alfred Baldwin and Jeffrey Paige used a personal structure analysis and
factor analysis respectively, while Allport used a commonsense approach to discern Jenny's personality structure as
revealed by her letters. All three approaches yielded similar results, which suggests that morphogenic studies can be
reliable.

IX. Concept of Humanity

Allport saw people as thinking, proactive, purposeful beings who are generally aware of what they are doing and why. On
the six dimensions for a concept of humanity, Allport rates higher than any other theorist on conscious influences and on
the uniqueness of the individual. He rates high on free choice, optimism, and teleology, and about average on social
influences.

Five Factor Trait Theory by McCrae and Costa

I. Who were Robert McCrae and Paul Costa Jr.?

A. Robert R. McCrae was born April 28, 1949 in Maryville, Missouri, a town of 13,000 people located about 100 miles
north of Kansas City. Maryville is home to Northwest Missouri State, the town’s largest employer. McCrae, the youngest
of three children born to Andrew McCrae and Eloise Elaine McCrae, grew up with an avid interest in science and
mathematics. After completing his undergraduate degree, he entered graduate school at Boston University with a major
in psychology. Given his inclination and talent for math and science, McCrae found himself intrigued by the psychometric
work of Raymond Cattell. In particular, he became curious about using factor analysis to search for a simple method for
identifying the structural traits found in the dictionary. At Boston University, McCrae’s major professor was Henry
Weinberg, a clinical psychologist with only a peripheral interest in personality traits. Hence, McCrae’s interest in traits
had to be nourished more internally than externally. After McCrae completed his PhD in 1976, Costa hired him as project
director and co-principal investigator for his Smoking and Personality Grant. McCrae and Costa worked together on this
project for 2 years, until they both were hired by the National Institute on Aging’s Gerontology Research Center, a
division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) housed in Baltimore. Costa and McCrae conducted work on traits that
ensured them a prominent role in the 40-year history of analyzing the structure of personality.

B. Paul T. Costa, Jr. was born September 16, 1942 in Franklin, New Hampshire, the son of Paul T. Costa, Sr. and Esther Vasil
Costa. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology at Clark University in 1964 and both his master’s (1968) and
PhD (1970) in human development from the University of Chicago. His longstanding interests in individual differences
and the nature of personality increased greatly in the stimulating intellectual environment at the University of Chicago.
While at Chicago, he worked with Salvatore Maddi, with whom he published a book on humanistic personality theory
(Maddi & Costa, 1972). After receiving his PhD, he taught for 2 years at Harvard and then from 1973 to 1978 at University
of Massachusetts–Boston. In 1978, he began working at the National Institute of Aging’s Gerontology Research Center,
becoming the chief for the Section on Stress and Coping and then in 1985 chief for the Laboratory of Personality &
Cognition. That same year, 1985, he became president of Division 20 (Adult Development and Aging) of the American
Psychological Association. Among his other list of accomplishments are fellow of American Psychological Association in
1977 and president of International Society for the Study of Individual Differences in 1995. Costa and his wife, Karol
Sandra Costa, have three children, Nina, Lora, and Nicholas. The collaboration between Costa and McCrae has been
unusually fruitful, with well over 200 co-authored research articles and chapters, and several books, including Emerging
Lives, Enduring Dispositions (1984), Personality in Adulthood: A Five Factor Theory Perspective, 2nd ed (2003), and
Revised NEO Personality Inventory (1992).

II. In Search of the Big Five

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Costa and McCrae, like most other factor researchers, were building elaborate
taxonomies of personality traits, but they were not using these classifications to generate testable hypotheses. Instead,
they were simply using factor analytic techniques to examine the stability and structure of personality. During this time,
Costa and McCrae focused initially on the two main dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion.

Almost immediately after they discovered N and E, Costa and McCrae found a third factor, which they called openness to
experience. Most of Costa and McCrae’s early work remained focused on these three dimensions (see, e.g., Costa &
McCrae, 1976; Costa, Fozard, McCrae, & Bosse, 1976).

III. Five Factors Found

As late as 1983, McCrae and Costa were arguing for a three-factor model of personality. Not until 1985 did they begin to
report work on the five factors of personality. This work culminated in their new five-factor personality inventory: the
NEO-PI (Costa & McCrae, 1985).

The NEO-PI was a revision of an earlier unpublished personality inventory that measured only the first three dimensions:
N, E, and O. In the 1985 inventory, the last two dimensions—agreeableness and conscientiousness—were still the least
well- developed scales, having no subscales associated with them. Costa and McCrae (1992) did not fully develop the A
and C scales until the Revised NEO-PI appeared in 1992.

IV. Description of the Five Factors

McCrae and Costa agreed with Eysenck that personality traits are bipolar and follow a bell-shaped distribution. That is,
most people score near the middle of each trait, with only a few people scoring at the extremes. How can people at the
extremes be described?

Neuroticism (N) and extraversion (E) are the two strongest and most ubiquitous personality traits, and Costa and McCrae
conceptualize in much the same way as Eysenck defined them. People who score high on neuroticism tend to be anxious,
temperamental, self-pitying, self-conscious, emotional, and vulnerable to stress-related disorders. Those who score low
on N are usually calm, even-tempered, self-satisfied, and unemotional.

People who score high on extraversion tend to be affectionate, jovial, talkative, joiners, and fun-loving. In contrast, low E
scorers are likely to be reserved, quiet, loners, passive, and lacking the ability to express strong emotion.

Openness to experience distinguishes people who prefer variety from those who have a need for closure and who gain
comfort in their association with familiar people and things. People who consistently seek out different and varied
experiences would score high on openness to experience.

People high on openness are generally creative, imaginative, curious, and liberal and have a preference for variety. By
contrast, those who score low on openness to experience are typically conventional, down-to- earth, conservative, and
lacking in curiosity.

The Agreeableness Scale distinguishes soft hearted people from ruthless ones. People who score in the direction of
agreeableness tend to be trusting, generous, yielding, acceptant, and good-natured. Those who score in the other
direction are generally suspicious, stingy, unfriendly, irritable, and critical of other people.

The fifth factor—conscientiousness—describes people who are ordered, controlled, organized, ambitious, achievement
focused, and self-disciplined. In general, people who score high on C are hardworking, conscientious, punctual, and
persevering. In contrast, people who score low on conscientiousness tend to be disorganized, negligent, lazy, and aimless
and are likely to give up when a project becomes difficult.

V. Units of the Five-Factor Theory

In the personality theory of McCrae and Costa behavior is predicted by an understanding of two central or core
components and three peripheral ones.

The two core components are basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations (including self-concept). The three
peripheral units of the model are biological bases, objective biography, and external influences.

A. Core Components of Personality

Basic Tendencies As defined by McCrae and Costa (1996), basic tendencies are one of the central components of
personality, along with characteristic adaptations, self-concept, biological bases, objective biography, and external
influences. McCrae and Costa defined basic tendencies as the universal raw material of personality capacities and
dispositions that are generally inferred rather than observed. Basic tendencies may be inherited, imprinted by early
experience or modified by disease or psychological intervention, but at any given period in an individual’s life, they
define the individual’s potential and direction.
Characteristic Adaptations Core components of Five-Factor Theory include the characteristic adaptations, that is,
acquired personality structures that develop as people adapt to their environment and include habits, skills, and beliefs
(McCrae & Sutin, 2018). The principal difference between basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations is their
flexibility. Whereas basic tendencies are quite stable, characteristic adaptations can be influenced by external influences,
such as acquired skills, habits, attitudes, and relationships that result from the interaction of individuals with their
environment.

Self-Concept McCrae and Costa (2003) explain that self-concept is actually a characteristic adaptation, but it gets its own
box because it is such an important adaptation. McCrae and Costa (1996) wrote that it “consists of knowledge, views,
and evaluations of the self, ranging from miscellaneous facts of personal history to the identity that gives a sense of
purpose and coherence to life” (p. 70). The beliefs, attitudes, and feelings one has toward oneself are characteristic
adaptations in that they influence how one behaves in a given circumstance. For example, believing that one is an
intelligent person makes one more willing to put oneself into situations that are intellectually challenging.

B. Peripheral Components

The three peripheral components are (1) biological bases, (2) objective biography, and (3) external influences.

Biological Bases The Five-Factor Theory rests on a single causal influence on personality traits, namely biology. The
principal biological mechanisms that influence basic tendencies are genes, hormones, and brain structures. McCrae and
Costa have not yet provided specific details about which genes, hormones, and brain structures play what role in their
influence on personality.

Objective Biography The second peripheral component is objective biography, defined as “everything the person does,
thinks, or feels across the whole lifespan” (McCrae & Costa, 2003, p. 187). Objective biography emphasizes what has
happened in people’s lives (objective) rather than their view or perceptions of their experiences (subjective). Every
behavior or response becomes part of the cumulative record. Whereas theorists such as Alfred Adler (style of life) or Dan
McAdams (personal narrative) emphasize the subjective interpretations of one’s life-story, McCrae and Costa focus on
the objective experiences—the events and experiences one has had over one’s lifetime.

External Influences People constantly find themselves in a particular physical or social situation that has some influence
on the personality system. The question of how we respond to the opportunities and demands of the context is what
external influences is all about. According to McCrae and Costa (1999, 2003), these responses are a function of two
things: (1) characteristic adaptations and (2) their interaction with external influences.

VI. Basic Postulates

Each of the components of the personality system (except biological bases) has core postulates. Because the
components of basic tendencies and characteristic adaptations are most central to the personality system, we will
elaborate only on the postulates for these two components.
A. Postulates for Basic Tendencies

Basic tendencies have four postulates: individuality, origin, development, and structure.

The individuality postulate stipulates that adults have a unique set of traits and that each person exhibits a unique
combination of trait patterns. The precise amount of neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and
conscientiousness is unique to all of us, and much of our uniqueness results from variability in our genotype. This
postulate is consistent with Allport’s idea that uniqueness is the essence of personality.

Second, the origin postulate takes a clear if somewhat controversial stance: All personality traits are the result solely of
endogenous (internal) forces, such as genetics, hormones, and brain structures. In other words, the family environment
plays no role in creating basic tendencies (but again, recall that personality traits are not synonymous with personality as
a whole).

Third, the development postulate assumes that traits develop and change through childhood, but in adolescence, their
development slows, and by early to mid-adulthood (roughly age 30), change in personality nearly stops altogether.

McCrae and Costa (2003) speculated that there may be some evolutionary and adaptive reasons for these changes:
When people are young and establishing their relationships and careers, high E, O, and even N would be beneficial. As
people mature and become settled, these traits are no longer as adaptive as they were earlier. Moreover, increases in
agreeableness and conscientiousness might be helpful as people age.

Finally, the structure postulate states that traits are organized hierarchically from narrow and specific to broad and
general, just as Eysenck (1990) had suggested. This postulate grows out of McCrae and Costa’s long-held position that the
number of personality dimensions is five and only five. This number is more than the three hypothesized by Eysenck and
considerably fewer than 35 found by Cattell. With the structure postulate, McCrae and Costa and other five-factor
theorists converge on five as the answer to the long-standing debate among factor theorists.

B. Postulates for Characteristic Adaptations

The postulate concerning characteristic adaptations states that, over time, people adapt to their environment “by
acquiring patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are consistent with their personality traits and earlier
adaptations” (McCrae & Costa, 2003, p. 190). In other words, traits affect the way we adapt to the changes in our
environment. Moreover, our basic tendencies result in our seeking and selecting particular environments that match our
dispositions. For instance, an extraverted person may join a dance club, whereas an assertive person may become a
lawyer or business executive.

The second characteristic adaptation postulate—maladjustment—suggests that our responses are not always consistent
with personal goals or cultural values. For example, when introversion is carried to an extreme, it may result in
pathological social shyness, which prevents people from going out of the house or holding down a job. Also, aggression
carried to an extreme may lead to belligerence and antagonism, which then result in being frequently fired from jobs.
These habits, attitudes, and competencies that make up characteristic adaptations sometimes become so rigid or
compulsive that they become maladaptive.
The third characteristic adaptation postulate states that basic traits may “change over time in response to biological
maturation, changes in the environment, or deliberate interventions” (McCrae & Costa, 2003, p. 190). This is McCrae and
Costa’s plasticity postulate, one that recognizes that although basic tendencies may be rather stable over the lifetime,
characteristic adaptations are not. For example, interventions such as psychotherapy and behavior modification may
have a difficult time changing a person’s fundamental traits, but they may be potent enough to alter a person’s
characteristic responses.

VII. Concept of Humanity

The Five-Factor theorists were not concerned with traditional themes such as determinism versus free choice, optimism
versus pessimism, and teleological versus causal influences. In fact, their theories do not lend themselves to speculation
of these topics.

Factor analysts see humans as being different from other animals. Only humans have the ability to report data about
themselves. McCrae and Costa believed that humans possess not only consciousness but self-consciousness as well.
People are also able to evaluate their performance and to render reasonably reliable reports concerning their attitudes,
temperament, needs, interests, and behaviors.

Second, McCrae and Costa placed emphasis on genetic factors of personality. They believe that traits and factors are
both inherited and have strong genetic and biological components and hence are universal. But they also believed that
environment plays a crucial role in shaping a person’s dispositions. Therefore, the Five-Factor model is rated as medium
on social influences.

On the dimension of individual differences versus similarities, trait and factor theories lean toward individual differences.
Factor analysis rests on the premise of differences among individuals and thus variability in their scores. Thus, trait
theories are more concerned with individual differences than with similarities among people.

Biologically Based Factor Theory by Eysenck

I. Biography of Hans J. Eysenck

Hans J. Eysenck was born in Berlin in 1916, but as a teenager, he moved to England to escape Nazi tyranny and made
London his home for more than 60 years. Eysenck was trained in the psychometrically oriented psychology department
of the University of London, from which he received a bachelor's degree in 1938 and a Ph.D. in 1940. Eysenck was
perhaps the most prolific writer of any psychologist in the world, and his books and articles often caused world-wide
controversy. He died in September of 1997.

II. Measuring Personality

Eysenck believed that genetic factors were far more important than environmental ones in shaping personality and that
personal traits could be measured by standardized personality inventories.

A. Criteria for Identifying Factors

Eysenck insisted that personality factors must (1) be based on strong psychometric evidence, (2) must possess heritability
and fit an acceptable genetic model, (3) make sense theoretically, and (4) possess social relevance.

B. Hierarchy of Measures

Eysenck recognized a four-level hierarchy of behavior organization: (1) specific acts or cognitions; (2) habitual acts or
cognitions; (3) traits, or personal dispositions; and (4) types or super factors.

III. Dimensions of Personality

Eysenck's methods of measuring personality limited the number of personality types to a relatively small number.
Although many traits exist, Eysenck identified only three major types.

A. What Are the Major Personality Factors?

Eysenck's theory revolves around only three general bipolar types: extraversion/introversion, neuroticism/stability, and
psychoticism/superego function. All three have a strong genetic component. Extraverts are characterized by sociability,
impulsiveness, jocularity, liveliness, optimism, and quick-wittedness, whereas introverts are quiet, passive, unsociable,
careful, reserved, thoughtful, pessimistic, peaceful, sober, and controlled. Eysenck, however, believes that the principal
differences between extraverts and introverts is one of cortical arousal level. Neurotic traits include anxiety, hysteria, and
obsessive compulsive disorders. Both normal and abnormal individuals may score high on the neuroticism scale of the
Eysenck's various personality inventories. People who score high on the psychoticism scale are egocentric, cold,
nonconforming, aggressive, impulsive, hostile, suspicious, and antisocial. Men tend to score higher than women on
psychoticism.

B. Measuring Superfactors

Eysenck and his colleagues developed four personality inventories to measure superfactors, or types. The two most
frequently used by current researchers are the Eysenck Personality Inventory (which measures only E and N) and the
Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (which also measures P).

C. Biological Bases of Personality

Eysenck believed that P, E, and N all have a powerful biological component, and he cited as evidence the existence of
these three types in a wide variety of nations and languages.

D. Personality and Behavior

Eysenck argued that different combinations of P, E and N relate to a large number of behaviors and processes, such as
academic performance, creativity, and antisocial behavior. He cautioned that psychologists can be misled if they do not
consider the various combinations of personality dimensions.

E. Personality and Disease

For many years, Eysenck researched the relationship between personality factors and disease. He teamed with Ronald
Grossarth-Maticek to study the connection between characteristics and both cancer and cardiovascular disease and
found that people with a helpless/hopeless attitude were more likely to die from cancer, whereas people who reacted to
frustration with anger and emotional arousal were much more likely to die from cardiovascular disease.

IV. Related Research

The theories of both Cattell and Eysenck have been highly productive in terms of research, due in part to Cattell's 16 PF
questionnaire and Eysenck's various personality inventories. Some of this research has looked at personality factors and
the creativity of scientists and artists. In addition, some of Eysenck's research attempted to show a biological basis of
personality.

A. Personalities of Creative Scientists and Artists

Early research using the 16 PF found that creative scientists, compared with either the general population or less creative
scientists, were more intelligent, outgoing, adventurous, sensitive, self-sufficient, dominant, and driven. Other research
found that female scientists, compared to other women, were more dominant, confident, intelligent, radical, and
adventurous. Research on the personality of artists found that writers and artists were more intelligent, dominant,
adventurous, emotionally sensitive, radical, and self-sufficient than other people. Later research found that creative
artists scored high on Eysenck's neuroticism and psychoticism scales, indicating that they were more anxious, sensitive,
obsessive, impulsive, hostile, and willing to take risks than other people.

B. Biology and Personality

If personality has a strong biological foundation, then researchers should find very similar personality types in various
cultures around the world. Studies in 24 countries found a high degree of similarity among these different cultures.
Eysenck's later work investigated personality factors across 35 European, Asian, African, and American cultures and
found that personality factors are quite universal, thus supporting the biological nature of personality.

V. Critique of Trait and Factor Theories

Cattell and Eysenck's theories rate high on parsimony, on their ability to generate research, and on their usefulness in
organizing data; they are about average on falsifiability, usefulness to the practitioner, and internal consistency.

VI. Concept of Humanity

Cattell and Eysenck believe that human personality is largely the product of genetics and not the environment. Thus,
both are rated very high on biological influences and very low on social factors. In addition, both rate about average on
conscious versus unconscious influences and high on the uniqueness of individuals. The concepts of free choice,
optimism versus pessimism, and causality versus teleology do not apply to Cattell and Eysenck.

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