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Personality
Test Tips
1. Read/ review Chapter 14
Remember: There is not on way to describe or interpret personality. The theories all
explain certain aspects of personality and apply different approaches to determine what
it is. Ex: Psychoanalytic approaches focus more on the inner drives, past experiences and
the unconscious in terms of personality. However, the theories differ on this. Karen
Horney looked at how parenting influenced personality whereas Freud believed that we
had inner unconscious forces that battled within us.
2. Approaches & main theorists
Trait- Big Five, Eysenk, Cattell, Allport
Psychoanalytic: Freud Jung, Adler, Horney
Humanistic: Maslow, Rogers
Behavioral/ Social Cog: Watson, Bandura, Skinner, Mischel
Evolutionary- Buss and general ideas of this perspective
Biological- genetic and physiological influences
Positive psych- Happiness
3. For each approach KNOW:
- Common aspects/ ideas of the approach- for example:
Trait theory- does not consider the biology of where traits come from, just that they exist.
All trait theorists agree upon that human have certain ranges of traits
Psycho-analytics deals with the unconscious, past experiences, certain inner conflicts,
therapies for getting to the root of these conflicts, dreams etc.
Humanists all believe that humans are innately good and striving for their best (that is a
criticism of the theory by the way). Humans are constantly and consciously looking at
their experiences and evaluating their circumstances. Free will decisions.
Behavioral- believe that environment and stimulus shape and condition a persona beliefs
and behavior. Does not deal with unconscious behavior.
- Aspects each theorist differs on- for example, how Freud, Horney, Adler and Jung
differ on their beliefs.
-Know major aspects of each different theory/ theorist within the approach – look at
list above in # 2
Ex: Eysenck has three ranges of traits whereas Cattell has the 16 pf., Adler believes in
inferiority and superiority complexes rooting from childhood, while Horney believes in
Neurotic Needs
-Know a little bit of background on each theorist and how it impacts their theories.
For example: Bandura’s most famous experiment was the Bobo Doll Experiment, or
Watson’s famous quote” Give me 12 infants….” Or Adler’s childhood sicknesses and
how they influenced his own theories or inferiority.
OR that Honey had a crush on her brother and was severely depressed.
- Know advantages and shortcomings of each approach and the theories with them.
For example, trait theories do not explain where traits come from and it can place a
certain label on humans, but an advantage of trait theory is that is allow us to place
people in the proper job preferences, OR that humanistic theory is hard to scientifically
measure, but can explain certain human behaviors very well that all of us can relate to in
our own lives.
Jungian theory has become more philosophical and mystical in nature and not scientific.
Watson’s theory does not take into account and biological or physiological influence on
behavior.
-Know the concepts of self that is described in the video, which also ties into Roger’s
theory. (academic, self, emotional self, social self, creative self etc) If you did not get to
see video it is linked on my Psych webpage on the left side.
4. You do not need to know -Types of personality testing from last section including
the MMPI, psych tests and the ink blots etc.
5. Helpful terms to study (this is not a complete list. Most of these fit a theory)
Academic, physical, emotional, social self( Rogers)
Archetypes
Psychoanalysis
Archetypes
Behavioralism
Cardinal, Central Secondary
Collective unconscious
Compensation
Compliance, aggression, withdrawl
Conditional regard and unconditional regard
Conscious
Defense mechanisms
Despised Self
Ego
Extinguish, punishment
Extraversion
Factor analysis
Fixation
Five Factor Model
Hierarchy of Needs
Humanism
Healthy self
Id
Ideal Self
Incongruence (versus congruence)
Inferiority Complex
Individual therapy
Introversion
Modeling
MMPI
Neurotic Needs
Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Psychoticism
Observational learning
Operant Conditioning
OCEAN
Oedipal/Electra Complex
Parental indifference
Person centered therapy
Peron situation theory
Personal Unconscious
Positive/ negative reinforcement, extinguish, punishment( Skinner)
Positive regard (conditional and unconditional)
Proprium-7 parts of self
Real Self
Relaxed atmosphere, free association, resistance, dream analysis, paraphraxes,
transference, catharsis and insight
Rorastch Ink Blots
Self actualization
Self concept
Self efficacy
Social cognitive theory ( BAndura)
Superiority Complex
Trait theory
Traits
Unconscious