THEORIES OF

PERSONALITY
 FIVE MAIN THEORIES OF
PERSONALITY
• Biological Theories
• Behavioral Theories
• Psychodynamic Theories
• Humanist Theories
• Trait Theories
 BIOLOGICAL THEORIES
• Biological approaches suggest that genetics are
responsible for personality. In the classic nature
versus nurture debate, the biological theories of
personality side with nature.
 BEHAVIORAL THEORIES

• Behavioral theorist include B.F. Skinner and John

B. Watson. Behavioral theories suggest that
personality is a result of interaction between the
individual and the environment.
 PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES
• Psychodynamic theories of personality are heavily
influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud and emphasize the
influence of the unconscious mind and childhood
experiences on personality. Psychodynamic theories include
Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stage theory and Erik
Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development.
 HUMANIST THEORIES
• Humanist theories emphasize the importance of free
will and individual experience in the development of
personality. Humanist theorist promote the concept of
self-actualization, which is the innate need for
personal growth and the ways that personal growth
motivates behavior.
 TRAIT THEORIES
• The trait theory approach is one of the prominent
areas in personality psychology. According to these
theories, personality is made up of a number of broad
traits. A trait is a relatively stable characteristic that
causes an individual to behave in certain ways. It is
essentially the psychological “blueprint” that informs
behavioral patterns.
TYPE THEORY
• One of the earliest Type Theory of Personality was proposed in
5th Century B.C by the Greek physician Hippocrates. He had
proposed a typology of personality based on a fluid or humor.
He classified people into four types:
FLUID TEMPERAMENT PERSONALITY

Blood Sanguine Cheerful and active

Phlegm Phlegmatic Apathetic and sluggish

Black bile Melancholy Sad and brooding

Yellow bile Choleric Irritable and excitable

WILLIAM SHELDON'S TYPE THEORY
Endomorphs Are fat, soft and round. By the temperament they
are relaxed and sociable.

Mesomorphs Have strong body build. They are energetic and

courageous.

Ectomorphs Are thin, long and fragile in body build. They are
brainy, artistic and introvert.
JUNG’S THEORY OF INTROVERTS AND
EXTRAVERTS
Introverts Are people who prefer to be alone, tend to avoid others,
withdraw themselves in the face of emotional conflicts and
are shy.

Extraverts On the other hand, are sociable, outgoing, drawn to

occupations that allow dealing with people and react to
stress by trying to lose themselves among people and
social activity.
 FRIEDMAN AND ROSEMAN

• TYPE-A PERSONALITY

Type-A personality seems to possess have motivation, lack

patience, feel short of time, be in a great hurry, and feel like being
burdened with work. Such people find it difficult to slow down and
relax.
• TYPE-B PERSONALITY
Opposite to Type-A is the Type-B personality, which can be understood as
the absence of Type-A traits.

• TYPE-C PERSONALITY

Morris has suggested a Type-C personality, which is prone to cancer.

Individuals characterized by the personality are cooperative, unassertive
and patient. They suppress their negative emotions (e.g., anger), and show
compliance to authority.
• TYPE-D PERSONALITY

more recently, a Type-D personality has suggested, which is

characterized by proneness to depression
 MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR
MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) typology is another typology
which is modern one and based upon Carl Jung’s theory of personality
types. Using the MBTI, individual’s self-reported preferences are used to
assess four dimensions of personality:

• E or I (Extraversion – Introversion)
• S or N (Sensing or Intuition)
• T or F (Thinking – Feeling)
• J or P (Judgement – Perception).
 TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY

• Traits are relatively stable over time,

• They are generally consistent across situations, and
• Their strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading
to individual differences in personality.
 ALLPORT’S TRAIT THEORY

He proposed that individuals possess a number of traits, which are

dynamic in nature. They determine behavior in such manner that an
individual approaches different situations with similar plans. The traits
integrate stimuli and responses which otherwise look dissimilar.
 CATTELL'S TRAITS APPROACH

Raymond Cattell believed that there is a common structure on which

people differ from each other. This structure could be determined
empirically. He tried to identify the primary traits from a huge array of
descriptive adjectives found in language.
He developed a test, called Sixteen Personality Factor
Questionnaire (16PF), for the assessment of personality. This test is
widely used by Psychologist.
 EYSENCK’S THREE DIMENSION THEORY

• Neuroticism vs. emotional stability: It refers to the degree to which

people have control over their feelings.

• Extraversion vs. introversion: it refers to the degree to which people are

socially outgoing or socially withdrawn.
 • Psychoticism vs. Sociability: which is considered to interact with
the other two dimensions mentioned above tends to be hostile,
egocentric, and antisocial.

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire is the test used for studying these

dimensions of personality.
DEVELOPMENTAL
THEORIES
 7 BEST-KNOWN DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES

• Freud’s Psychosexual Developmental Theory

• Erickson’s Psychosocial Developmental Theory
• Behavioral Child Development Theories
• Piaget’s Cognitive Developmental Theory
• Bowlby Attachment Theory
• Bandura’s Social Learning Theory
• Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
 FREUD’S PSYCHOSEXUAL DEVELOPMENTAL
THEORY

According to Freud’s psychosexual theory, child

development occurs in a series of stages focused on different
pleasure areas of the body. During each stage, the child
encounters conflicts that play significant role in the course of
development.
 ERICKSON’S PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENTAL
THEORY

Erickson’s eight-stage theory of psychosocial

development describes growth and change throughout life,
focusing on social interaction and conflicts that arise during
different stages of development.
 BEHAVIORAL CHILD DEVELOPMENT
THEORIES
According to the behavioral perspective, all human
behavior can be describe in terms of environmental influences.
Some behaviorist, such as John B. Watson and B.F Skinner,
insisted that learning occurs purely through processes of
association and reinforcement.
 PIAGET’S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENTAL
THEORY

Cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a

person’s thought processes. It also looks at these thought processes
influence how we understand and interact with the world.
Theorist Jean Piaget proposed one of the most influential
theories of cognitive development.
 Piaget then proposed a theory of cognitive development to account
for the steps and sequence of children’s intellectual development.

• Sensorimotor Stage: a period of time between birth and age of two during
which an infant’s knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory
perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor
responses caused by sensory stimuli.
• Pre-operational Stage: a period between ages of 2 and 6 during which a
child learn to use language. During this stage, children do not yet
understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and
are unable to take the point of view of other people.
• Concrete Operational Stage: a period between ages 7 and 11 during which
children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin
thinking logically about concrete events but have difficulty understanding
abstract or hypothetical concept.

• Formal Operational Stage: a period between ages 12 to adulthood when

people develop the ability to think abstract concepts. Skills such as logical
thought deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this
stage.
 BOWLBY ATTACHMENT THEORY

John Bowlby proposed one of the earliest theories of

social development. Bowlby believed that early relationship
with caregivers play a major role in child development and
continue to influence social relationships throughout life.
 BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Social learning theory is based on the work of

psychologist Albert Bandura. Bandura believed that the
conditioning and reinforcement process could not
sufficiently explain all human learning.
 VYGOTSKY’S SOCIOCULTURAL THEORY

Another psychologist named Lev Vygotsky proposed a

seminal learning theory that has gone on to become very
influential, especially in the field of education. Like Piaget,
Vygotsky believed that children learned actively and through
hands-on experiences.
THANK YOU!
JOCELYN O. BUNA
REPORTER