Chapter 6

Personality
 What is personality?
• The word personality is derived from the word
“persona”, which has Greek and Latin roots
and refers to the theatrical masks worn by
Greek actors.
• Personality is the unique pattern of enduring
thoughts, feelings, and actions that
characterize a person.
 Theories of Personality

1. Psychoanalytic theory
2. Trait theories
3. Humanistic theory of personality
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
•  

• Sigmund Frued (1856-1939), the founder of

psychoanalytic approach, began to evolve a
theory that pointed specifically to the irrational
basis of human behavior, to the hidden
emotional content of our everyday actions, and
to the ways in which the individual is driven by
powerful sexual and aggressive impulses, and
by fear of them.
 Assumptions of Psychoanalytic Theory
A. Determinant of personality
i.ID
ii.EGO
iii.Super ego
B Levels of consciousness
» Conscious level
» Sub conscious/preconscious level
» Unconscious level
C. D. Early child hood stage is critical
E. The basic and true motive of our actions are
largely unconscious
 Determinant of personality
I. Id- Legislator of Personality
• The Id is the source of our unconscious impulse
towards fulfillment of our needs.
• It operates according to the pleasure principle
• The id is reservoir for all drives; it drives power directly
from bodily needs and processes.
• Id is the source of the libido, the psychic energy that
fuels the entire personality; yet the id cannot act on its
own. It can only wish, imagine and fantasize demand.
• Generally, it is the individual’s primary subjective
reality at the unconscious level.
• This impulsive thinking also called “primary process
thinking” is quite unrealistic.
II. Ego- Executive of Personality
• It is the role of the ego to meditate between unbridled
demands of the id and the limits imposed by the real
world.
• The ego is said to operate according to the reality principle.
It attempts to satisfy the id’s demands in ways that
recognize life as it is, not as the id wants it to be.
• The process of the ego, which include important cognitive
processes such as perception, learning, logical reasoning
problem solving and repression are later development or
secondary processes.
• Freud stressed the ego is both the servant and master to
the id. The ego’s mastery is reflected by its ability to delay
gratification until reality is served. But, the ego continues to
serve the id as an executive supervisor, subordinates,
pondering several alternatives courses of action and
selecting plans that best satisfy the id’s basic needs
III. The Super Ego- Judicial part of personality
• At about 4 or 5, the superego starts to
develop, as children begin to identify with
their parents’ moral standards. It strives for
perfection. Once the super-ego emerges,
children do not need an adult to tell them
they have been good or bad; they are now
aware of their own transgressions and will
feel guilty or a shamed of their unethical
conduct.
• It has two parts
1. Ego ideal
2. Ego conscience
• B. Levels of consciousness
• According to Freud, the topographic model of
the mind can be divided into three regions:
the conscious, preconscious, and
unconscious.
• Whereas the conscious part of the mind was
thought to hold only information that
demanded attention and action at the
moment,
• preconscious contained material that was
capable of becoming conscious but was not
because attention (in the form of psychic
energy) was not invested in it at that time.
• The unconscious contained anxiety-producing
material (e.g., sexual impulses, aggressive
wishes) that were deliberately repressed (i.e.,
held outside of awareness as a form of self-
protection).
• unconscious was thought to play a more
central role in personality than are the other
two elements of Freud’s topographic model.
• In fact, numerous theories of personality
ascribe to the notion that emotion-laden
material outside of awareness plays a role in
determining an individual’s personality traits
and coping style.
 Defense mechanisms
• Identification – Identification is the
development of role models that people
identify with or imitate. They may choose to
imitate either a few traits of the model or the
total person. Identification often occurs with
the same sex parent and may be born out of
love or power-for example, “I love Dad so
much I want to be just like him.”
• Displacement- Displacement means
redirecting energy from a primary object to a
substitute when an instinct is blocked. For
 Defense mechanisms
• Repression- Repression forces a dangerous memory,
conflict, idea or perception out of the conscious into the
unconscious and a place a lid on it to prevent the
repressed material from resurfacing. In repression, the
person unconsciously bars a painful thought from
memory.
• Suppression- Is a conscious effort to do the same thing.
An underachieving student might have repressed painful
memories about failure in a prior school experience.
• Projection – Is attributing one’s own characteristics to
others or to things in the external world. For instance, a
teacher may find it uncomfortable to admit he does not
like the children in his class, so instead he says the
children don’t like him.
 Defense mechanisms
• Reaction Formation – Reaction formation
refers to the development of attitudes or
character traits exactly opposite to ones that
have been repressed.
• Rationalization – Rationalization is an attempt
to prove that one’s behavior is justified and
rational and is thus worthy of app
• Denial – Denial is a refusal to face unpleasant
aspects of reality or to perceive anxiety –
provoking stimuli. An underachieving student
may say, “Things are going fine; my grades will
be much higher this time.”
 2. Trait theories
• Unlike many other theories of personality,
such as psychoanalytic or humanistic theories,
trait theory is a model that seeks to identify
the basic traits necessary to describe
personality.
• Traits are enduring dimensions of personality
characteristics along which people differ.
• The basic assumption of the trait point of view
is that people possess broad predispositions
to respond in particular ways.
• Such predispositions are called traits.
• Trait theorists do not assume that some people
have a trait and others do not; rather, they
possess that all people possesses certain
traits, but that the degree to which a given
trait applies to a specific person varies and can
be quantified.
• For example, you might be relatively friendly,
whereas other person might be relatively
unfriendly.
• The trait approach to personality makes three main
assumptions:
1. Personality traits are relatively stable, and therefore
predictable, over time. So a gentle person tends to stay
the same way across time.
2. Personality traits are relatively stable across situations,
and they can explain why people act in predictable ways
in many different situations.
– A person who is competitive at work will probably also be
competitive on the tennis court or at a party.
3. People differ in how much of a particular personality trait
they possess; no two people are exactly alike on all traits.
The result is an endless variety of unique personalities.
 The Big Five

• More recently, a number of researchers have been using the latest in

computer technology to redo the work that Eysenck and other earlier
researchers did in far more laborious ways.  This has lead to what is known
as the "big five" or the "five factor" theory.
What Are the Big Five Dimensions of Personality?
• Extraversion: This trait includes characteristics such as excitability,
sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness and high amounts of emotional
expressiveness.
• Agreeableness: This personality dimension includes attributes such as
trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other pro-social behaviors.
• Conscientiousness: Common features of this dimension include high levels
of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control and goal-directed behaviors.
Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and mindful of
details.
• Neuroticism: Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional
instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
• Openness: This trait features characteristics such as imagination and
insight, and those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range of
interests.
 3. Humanistic theory of personality

• According to humanistic theorists, all of the approaches to personality

that we have previously discussed share a fundamental misconception

in their view of human nature.

• Instead of seeing people as controlled by unconscious, unseen forces, a

set of stable traits, situational reinforcements and punishments, or

inherited factors (biological base), humanistic approaches to

personality emphasizes people’s basic goodness and their tendency to

grow to higher level of functioning.

• It is this conscious, self-motivated ability to change and improve, along

people’s unique creative impulses, that makeup the core of personality.

• The major proponent of the humanistic point of view is
Carl Rogers.
• He suggested that people have a need for positive
regard that reflects a universal requirement to be loved
and respected.
• Because others provide this positive regard, we grow
dependent on them. We begin to see and judge
ourselves through the eyes of other people, relying on
their values.
• According to Rogers, personality has two components:
actual-self (experiencing one’s true-self) and self-
concept or perceived-self (what one want to be).
• If one outgrowth of placing important on the opinions
of others is that there may be a conflict between
people’s actual experience and their self-concepts, or
self-impressions. If the discrepancies are minor, so are
the consequences. But if they are great, they will lead
to psychological disturbances in daily functioning.
• Rogers suggests that one way of overcoming the
discrepancy between experience and self-concept is
through the recipient of unconditional positive regard
from other people.
• Unconditional positive regard refers to an attitude of
acceptance and reflects on the part of an observer,
regardless of the person’s behavior, religion, ethnic,
what he says or does, etc.
• This acceptance allows people the opportunity to
evolve and grow both cognitively and
emotionally and to develop more realistic self-
concept, and ultimately to self-actualization.
• Self actualization is a state of self-fulfillment in
which people realize their highest potential.
• This occurs when people’s everyday experience
and their self-concept are closely matched.
• People who are self-actualized accept
themselves as they are in realities which enable
them to achieve happiness and fulfillment.