PERSONALITY

Which statement do you agree with most?

▪ We learn our personality through imitating others and through

lessons about what’s good and bad.
▪ Our personality comes down to how we think about life and life
events.
▪ Our personality develops through loving relationships which
support us in reaching our fullest potential.
▪ Our personality is in large part based in conflicts and processes
that we aren’t fully conscious of.

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▪ We learn our personality through imitating
Behavioral
others and through lessons about what’s good and
perspective
bad.

▪ Our personality comes down to how we think Cognitive

about life and life events. perspective

▪ Our personality develops through loving Humanistic

relationships which support us in reaching our perspective
fullest potential.
▪ Our personality is in large part based in conflicts and
Psychodynamic
processes that we aren’t fully conscious of.
perspective
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 1.
Definition
Personality is an individual’s
unique collection of consistent
behavioral traits.

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Nature of personality
▪ Personality is relatively stable but dynamic in nature
▪ Personality helps the individual to adjust to the
environment
▪ Personality is unique

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Determinants of personality

Genes: 30-50%

Non-shared Environment: 30-35%

Shared environment: 20%

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 2.
Theories of personality
 Social - Cognitive
Behavioral perspective
perspective

Psychodynamic
Humanistic perspective
perspective
Psychodynamic
▪ Personality is the interaction
between the unconscious, the pre-
conscious and the conscious.
▪ Freud: id – ego – superego

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Psychodynamic
▪ Personality is the interaction
between the unconscious, the pre-
conscious and the conscious.
▪ Freud: id – ego – superego
▪ Jung: collective unconscious –
personal unconscious – conscious

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Psychodynamic
▪ Humans are closed energy system.
▪ Each human has a constant amount of
psychic energy, called libido.
▪ If an act is forbidden or impulse is
suppressed, its energy will seek an outlet
elsewhere in the system, possibly
appearing in a disguised form, called
defense mechanism.
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 Repression Keeping distressing thoughts
and feelings buried

Defense mechanism
Projection Attributing one’s thoughts, etc.
to others
Displacement Diverting emotions to a
substitute target
Reaction Behaving in the opposite
formation direction of one’s true feelings
Regression Revert to childlike behaviors

Rationalization Create excuses to justify

unacceptable behaviors
Denial Fail to acknowledge reality

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Behavioral
▪ Personality is learnt through
operant conditioning.
▪ Structure of personality can’t
be identified because people
change according to new
experiences.

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Social cognitive
▪ We learn our personality through
observational learning.
▪ Children learn to be assertive,
conscientious, self-sufficient, dependable,
easygoing, and
so forth by observing parents, teachers,
relatives, siblings, and peers behaving in
these way.
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Social
cognitive
▪ Self-efficacy:
one’s belief about one’s
ability
▪ High self-efficacy =
better performance

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Humanistic
▪ Personality is about self-concept, our perception of ourselves.
▪ Self-concept influences behavior more than reality

Anxiety Well-
adapted

Defense

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Humanistic
▪ People are basically good. They are
motivated towards fulfillment or
actualization of all capacities.
▪ Personality is the result of human choice,
self-actualization, motivation.

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Putting theories into practice
An analysis of Ron Weasley’s personality…

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 Ron Weasley represents the id because his actions strive to
satisfy his immediate personal needs, such as food, sleep,
and relaxation; and furthermore, he often fails to control
Psycho-
dynamic these impulses and succumbs to his emotions and desires.

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 Ron’s self-concept: his ideal self is a hero yet his reality is a
side-kick. He’s always struggled to overcome his inferiority
and become a better version of himself.

Humanistic

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 Ron learns from role models such as his brothers and Harry
Potter.
Social -
Cognitive

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 Ron are repeatedly rewarded for his bravery by his father
(when he used the flying car to rescue Harry) and
Dumbledore (for chess game in year 1).

Behavioral

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 3.
Measuring personality
Assessment of personality

▪ Subjective methods: self-report, autobiography

▪ Objective methods: others’ report, observation
▪ Projective methods: Inkblot test, TAT, dream analysis
Trait
▪ Personality can be classified into traits.
▪ A trait is a durable disposition to behave
in a particular way in a variety of
situations.

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Big Five Inventory

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Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory

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Rorschach Test

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Thematic
Apperception Test

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Homework
▪ For all students:
Nobody can change a person, but someone can be the reason for a
person to change.
Is personality change possible? Discuss your experience in
consideration of personality research.
Or: apply personality theories to explain a character.

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Homework
▪ For individual assignment:
Do a survey to find out the traits of effective business people.
Set clear criteria for your selection: who are effective business
people? How to measure traits?

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