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Personality
Psychology 2012 – Fall 2003
Introduction: What is
Personality?
An individual’s unique and relatively
consistent patterns of thinking, feeling,
and behaving
Personality – an attempt to describe and
explain how people are similar, how they
are different, and why every individual is
unique
Tries to explain the whole person
Introduction: What is
Personality?
Personality theories can be roughly grouped under
four basic perspectives:
The psychoanalytic perspective – emphasizes the importance
of unconscious processes and the influence of early
childhood experiences
The humanistic perspective – represents an optimistic look
at human nature, emphasizing the self and the fulfillment of
a person’s unique potential
The social cognitive perspective – emphasizing learning and
conscious cognitive processes, including the importance of
beliefs about the self, goal-setting, and self-regulation
The trait perspective – emphasizes the description and
measurement of specific personality differences among
individuals
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, the
founder of psychoanalysis, was one of the
most influential figures of the twentieth
century
Psychoanalysis – the theory of personality that
stresses the influence of:
Unconscious mental processes
Sexual and aggressive instincts, and
The enduring effects of early childhood experience on
personality
Sigmund Freud
Assumptions:
Traits transcend
situations
Personality
formed in
childhood
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The life of Sigmund Freud
Freud studied medicine, became a
physician, and then proved himself an
outstanding physiological researcher
However, prospects for an academic career in
scientific research were very poor, especially for
a Jew in Vienna, which was intensely antiSemitic at that time
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Influences in the development of Freud’s ideas
Joseph Breuer – a highly respected physician, who found
that when patients were hypnotized and allowed to talk
freely about a given symptom, forgotten memories of
traumatic events would emerge
After patients freely expressed the pent-up emotions associated
with the events, symptoms would disappear
A process Breuer call catharsis
Freud dropped the use of hypnosis and developed his own
technique of free association to help patients uncover
forgotten memories
Freud’s patients would spontaneously report their uncensored
thoughts, mental images, and feelings as they came to mind
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Influences in the development of Freud’s ideas
Breuer and Freud described several of their case studies in
their landmark book Studies on Hysteria; published in 1895,
it marked the beginning of psychoanalysis
In 1900, Freud published what many consider his most
important work, The Interpretation of Dreams
Freud came to focus on humanity’s destructive tendencies;
Freud wrote Civilization and Its Discontents, in which he
applied his psychoanalytic perspective to civilization as a
whole
The central theme: human nature and civilization are in basic
conflict – a conflict that cannot be resolved
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Freud’s Dynamic Theory of Personality
Freud saw personality and behavior as resulting from a
constant interplay between conflicting psychological forces
that operate at three different levels of awareness
1.
2.
3.
All the thoughts, feelings, and sensations that you are aware
of at this particular moment represent the conscious level
The preconscious contains information of which you’re not
currently aware, but is easily capable of entering your
consciousness, such as childhood memories or your social
security number
The bulk of Freud’s psychological iceberg is made up of the
unconscious, which lies below the waterline of the
preconscious and the conscious
We are not directly aware of these submerged thought, feelings,
wishes, and drives
But the unconscious exerts an enormous influence on our
conscious thoughts and behavior
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Freud’s Dynamic Theory of Personality
Freud believed that unconscious material often
seeps through to the conscious level in distorted
disguised, or symbolic forms
Dream analysis was particularly important to Freud
Beneath the surface images (manifest content) of a dream
lies the true, hidden, unconscious meaning of the dream
symbols (latent content)
The unconscious also can be revealed in
unintentional actions,
Such as accidents, mistakes, instances of forgetting and
inadvertent slips of the tongue (often referred to as
“Freudian Slips”)
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The structure of personality
Psychological energy evolves to form the three basic
structures of personality – the id, the ego, and the
superego. These are distinct psychological processes.
The id, the most primitive part of the personality, is entirely
unconscious and present at birth – it is completely immune to
logic, values, morality, danger, and the demands of the
external world
Two conflicting instinctual drives fuel the id: the life instinct and
the death instinct
1.
Eros – the life instinct; consists of biological urges that
perpetuate the existence of the individual and the species
(hunger, thirst, physical comfort, sexuality)
2.
Thanatos – the death instinct; destructive energy that is
reflected in aggressive, reckless, and life-threatening
behaviors, including self-destructive actions
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The id is rules by the pleasure principle
The relentless drive toward immediate
satisfaction of the instinctual urges,
especially sexual urges.
The id strives to increase pleasure, reduce
tension, and avoid pain
The newborn infant is completely driven by the
pleasure principle
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The structure of personality
A new dimension of personality develops from part
of the id’s psychological energy – the ego
Partly conscious, the ego represents the organized,
rational, and planning dimensions of personality
The mediator between the id’s instinctual demands and the
restrictions of the outer world, the ego operates on the
reality principle
The capacity to postpone gratification until the
appropriate time or circumstances exist in the external
world
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The ego is the pragmatic part of the
personality that learns various
compromises to reduce the tension of
the id’s instinctual urges.
If the ego cannot identify an acceptable
compromise to satisfy an instinctual urge,
it can repress the impulse
Remove it from conscious awareness
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The structure of personality
Gradually, social values move from being
externally imposed demands to being
internalized rules and values
By age 5-6, young children develop an internal,
parental voice that is partly conscious – the
superego
As the internal representation of parental and
societal values, the superego evaluates the
acceptability of behavior and thoughts, then praises
or admonishes
Freud’s Model
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The ego defense mechanisms: unconscious
self-deceptions
When the demands of the id or superego threaten
to overwhelm the ego, anxiety results
If a realistic solution or compromise is not
possible, the ego may temporarily reduce anxiety
by distorting thoughts or perceptions of reality
through processes Freud called ego defense
mechanisms
By resorting to these largely unconscious self-deceptions,
the ego can maintain an integrated sense of self
While searching for a more acceptable and realistic
solution to a conflict between the id and superego
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Ego defenses
The most fundamental ego defense mechanism is repression
– unconscious forgetting
Unbeknownst to the person, anxiety-producing thoughts,
feelings, or impulses are pushed out of conscious awareness
into the unconscious
Displacement – impulses are redirected to a substitute
object or person
Usually one less threatening or dangerous than the original
source of conflict
The use of defense mechanisms is very common
Many psychologically healthy people temporarily use ego
defense mechanisms to deal with stressful events
When they delay or interfere with our use of more constructive
coping strategies, they can be counterproductive
Freudian Theory: Defense
Defense Mechanisms
Methods for dealing with anxiety
Freud thought some more mature than
others
Denial
Sublimation
Projection
Reaction Formation
Denial
Refusing to accept that the feeling is
present or that the event occurred
A very primitive mechanism
Example: preschoolers will convince
themselves they didn't do something
they wish they hadn't
Projection
Attributing one's undesirable traits or
actions to others, so they become the
problem instead of you
Example from a failing student:
"I'm not worried about me, but I'd
hate to see Ellen flunk--she's so
fragile"
Reaction Formation
Taking actions opposite to one's
feelings in order to deny the reality of
the feelings
Example: A woman says she can’t
stand her boss, when in reality she is
in love with him
Sublimation
The most mature mechanism
Redirecting anxiety-causing impulses
into socially acceptable actions
Example:
Dealing with anxiety over a final by
engaging in vigorous physical activity
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Personality development: The psychosexual
stages
Freud believed that people progress through five
psychosexual stages of development
The foundations of the adult personality are established
during the first six years of life, as the child progresses
through the oral, anal, and phallic stages
The latency stage occurs during later childhood and the
fifth and final stage, the genital stage, begins in
adolescence
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
In Freud’s theory, the psychosexual
stages are age-related developmental
periods in which sexual impulses are
focused on different bodily zones
And are expressed through activities
associated with those areas
Freudian Theory: Stages
Psychosexual Stages
(source of libido satisfaction)
Oral (0-1 year)
Anal (1-3 years)
Phallic (3-6 years)
Latency (6-puberty)
Genital (from puberty)
Freudian Theory: Stages
Oral Stage:
Libido gratification comes from oral
exploration of the world
Infant learns to trust in others, esp. for
food
Oral Personality:
Problems in the oral stage supposedly lead
to pessimism about the world, hostility or
passivity
Freudian Theory: Stages
Anal Stage:
Kids learn about delay of gratification
Kids gain pleasure and libido
satisfaction from being in control
Anal Personality:
Problems in the anal stage supposedly
lead to either excessive orderliness or
excessive messiness
Freudian Theory: Stages
Phallic Stage:
Freud believed sex-role identification occurred
Mechanisms included castration anxiety (boys)
& penis envy (girls)
Phallic Personality:
Problems in the phallic stage supposedly lead
to sex-role identification problems,
promiscuity, vanity, or excessive chastity
Freudian Theory: Stages
Latency Stage:
A time of focus on achievement and mastery
of skills
Libido is channeled into mastery activities
Freud thought little of interest happened here
Others have argued the sense of self-esteem
is established here
Freudian Theory: Stages
Genital Stage:
The time of mature personality,
intimacy with others
Libido satisfied by adult-type sexual
activity
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Fixation – unresolved developmental conflicts
At each psychosexual stage, according to Freud,
the infant or young child is faced with a
developmental conflict that must be successfully
resolved in order to move on to the next stage
If frustrated, the child will be left with feelings of
unmet needs characteristic of that stage;
If overindulged, the child may be reluctant to move on to
the next stage
In either case, the result of an unresolved developmental
conflict is fixation at a particular stage
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The Oedipus complex: A psychosexual
drama
The most critical conflict occurs during the
phallic stage
Freud believed that the child develops a sexual
attraction to the opposite-sex parent and
hostility toward the same-sex parent
Freud called this the Oedipus complex – named after
the hero of a Greek myth
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The Oedipus complex: A psychosexual drama
The little boy feels hostility and jealously toward his father,
but he realizes that his father is more physically powerful
The boy experiences castration anxiety
To resolve the Oedipus complex, the little boy ultimately
joins forces with his former enemy resorting to the defense
mechanism of identification
He imitates and internalizes his father’s values, attitudes, and
mannerisms
The little girl discovers that little boys have a penis and that
she does not
She feels a sense of deprivation and loss that Freud termed
penis envy
The little girl blames her mother and develops contempt for her
However, in her attempt to take her mother’s place with her
father, she also identifies with her mother
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
The Neo-Freudians: Freud’s descendents and
dissenters
In general, the neo-Freudians disagreed with
Freud on three key points
Freud’s belief that behavior was primarily motivated by
sexual urges
Freud’s contention that personality is fundamentally
determined by early childhood experiences
Freud’s generally pessimistic view of human nature and
society
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Carl Jung: Archetypes and the collective
unconscious
Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung broke with Freud to
develop his own psychoanalytic theory of
personality
He believed that people are motivated by a more general
psychological energy that pushes them to achieve
psychological growth, self-realization, and psychic
wholeness and harmony
He also believed that personality continues to develop in
significant ways throughout the lifespan
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Carl Jung, continued
Jung believed that the deepest part of the individual psyche
is the collective unconscious
Shared by all people and reflects humanity’s collective
evolutionary history
Contained in the collective unconscious are the archetypes
The mental images of universal human instincts, themes and
preoccupations
Jung was the first to describe two basic personality types:
Introverts – who focus their attention inward
Extroverts – who turn their attention and energy toward the
outside world
Karen Horney
Stressed need for
safety & satisfaction
Childhood frustration
may lead to
development of basic
anxiety & neurosis
Tyranny of the Should: Horney's term for focusing
on an unrealistic, perfect self-image that leads to
dissatisfaction
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Karen Horney: basic anxiety and “womb envy”
German-born American psychoanalyst Karen Horney came to
stress the importance of cultural and social factors in
personality development, matters that Freud had largely
ignored
She also stressed the importance of social relationships,
especially the parent-child relationship, and culture in
personality
Horney believed that disturbances in human relationships,
not sexual conflicts, were the cause of psychological
problems
Such problems arise from the attempt to deal with basic
anxiety
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Horney described three patterns of behavior that
individuals use to defend against basic anxiety
Those who move toward other people have an excessive
need for approval and affection
Those who move against others have an excessive need for
power
Those who move away from other people have an excessive
need for independence and self-sufficiency
Horney contended that people with a healthy
personality are flexible in balancing these different
needs
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Horney also sharply disagreed with Freud’s
interpretation of female development, especially the
notion that women suffer from penis envy
She believed that what women envy in men is not their
penis, but their superior status in society
She contended that men often suffer from womb envy
Envying women’s capacity to bear children
She argued that men compensated for their minor role in
reproduction by creating artifacts and other external
accomplishments through their work
Alfred Adler
Humans motivated by
the need to overcome
inferiority and strive
for significance
Inferiority Complex:
Adler's term for
feelings of inferiority
that interfere with
development
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Alfred Adler: Feelings of inferiority and
striving for superiority
Austrian physician Adler broke away from Freud to
establish his own theory of personality
Adler believed that the most fundamental human motive
was striving for superiority
The desire to improve oneself, master challenges, and
move toward self-perfection and self-realization
This striving arises from universal feelings of inferiority
These feelings motivate people to compensate for
their real or imagined weaknesses
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Alfred Adler, continued
When people are unable to compensate for
specific weaknesses or when their feelings of
inferiority are excessive they can develop an
inferiority complex
A sense of inadequacy, weakness, and helplessness
At the other extreme, people can overcompensate
for their feelings of inferiority and develop a
superiority complex
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Evaluating Freud and the psychoanalytic
perspective on personality
Although Freudian theory has had a profound
impact on Western culture and on psychology, it
has been criticized on three major counts
1.
2.
3.
Inadequacy of evidence
Lack of testability
Sexism
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Inadequacy of evidence
1.
2.
Freud’s theory relies wholly on data derived from
his relatively small number of patients and from
self-analysis
It seems impossible to objectively assess Freud’s
“data”
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Lack of testability
Many psychoanalytic concepts are so vague and ambiguous that
they are impossible to measure or confirm objectively
Yet they are often impossible to disprove, because even seemingly
contradictory information can be used to support Freud’s theory
Psychoanalysis is better at explaining past behavior than at
predicting future behavior
Nonetheless, several key psychoanalytic ideas have been
substantiated by empirical research. Among them:
1.
2.
3.
Much of mental life is unconscious
Early childhood experiences have a critical influence on interpersonal
relationships and psychological adjustment in adulthood
People differ significantly in the degree to which they are able to
regulate their impulses, emotions, and thoughts toward adaptive and
socially acceptable ends
The Psychoanalytic
Perspective on Personality
Sexism
Horney and other female psychoanalysts have
pointed out that Freud’s theory uses male
psychology as a prototype
However, to Freud’s credit, women were quite active in
the early psychoanalytic movement
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Emergence of the “Third Force”
In opposition to both psychoanalysis and
behaviorism, humanistic psychology was a
“third force” in psychology
This view of personality emphasizes human
potential and such uniquely human
characteristics as self-awareness and free will
It sees people as being innately good and focuses on
the healthy personality
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Humanistic psychologists contended that the
most important factor in personality is the
individual’s conscious, subjective perception
of his or her self
Abraham Maslow was one of the founders of
humanistic psychology: key ideas included
the hierarch of needs and self-actualization
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Carl Rogers: On becoming a person
Was one of the founders of humanistic
psychology, developed his personality theory from
his clinical experiences with his patients,
Whom he referred to as “clients” to emphasize their
active and voluntary participation in therapy
According to Rogers, the most basic human motive is the
actualizing tendency
The innate drive to maintain and enhance the human
organism
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
The cornerstone of Roger’s personality
theory is the idea of the self-concept
The set of perceptions and beliefs that you
hold about yourself
As children develop a greater sense of selfawareness, there is an increasing need for
positive regard
The sense of being valued and loved by other
people
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Rogers maintained that most parents provide their
children with conditional positive regard
The sense that the child is valued and loved only when the
child behaves in a way that is acceptable to others
Incongruence – a state in which a child’s self-concept conflicts
with his or her actual experience
Unconditional positive regard – the child’s sense of being
unconditionally loved and valued,
Even if she doesn’t conform to the standards and expectations
of others
Rogers did not advocate permissive parenting
He maintained that parents can disapprove of a child’s specific
behavior without completely rejecting the child herself
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Through consistent experiences of
unconditional positive regard, one becomes a
fully functioning person
A person who has a flexible, constantly evolving
self-concept
Rather than defending against or distorting her
own thoughts or feelings, the person experiences
congruence
Her sense of self is consistent with her emotions and
experiences
The Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
Evaluating the Humanistic Perspective on
Personality
The humanistic perspective has been criticized on two
counts
1.
Humanistic theories are hard to validate or test scientifically
Because they tend to be based on philosophical assumptions or
clinical observations, rather than on empirical research
2.
Many psychologists believe that humanistic psychology’s view
of human nature is too optimistic
Although the influence of humanistic psychology
has waned since the 60’s and early 70’s, it has
made lasting contributions to psychotherapy,
counseling, education, and parenting
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
The idea that a person’s conscious thought processes
in different situations strongly influence his or her
actions is one important characteristic of the social
cognitive perspective on personality
This perspective differs from the psychoanalytic
and humanistic perspectives in several ways:
It relies heavily on experimental findings
It emphasizes conscious, self-regulated behavior
It emphasizes that our sense of self can vary
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
Albert Bandura & social cognitive theory
Several contemporary personality theorists
have embraced the social cognitive
approach to explaining personality;
Albert Bandura is well-known for observational
learning and self-efficacy
Both of these topics are central to social cognitive
theory
Emphasizes the social origins of thoughts and
actions and also stresses active cognitive
processes and the capacity for self-regulation
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
Bandura’s research has shown that we
observe:
The consequences that follow people’s actions
The rules and standards that apply to behavior in
specific situations, and
The ways in which people regulate their own
behavior
Reciprocal determinism – a model that
explains human functioning and personality
as caused by the interaction of behavioral,
cognitive, and environmental factors
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
Beliefs of self-efficacy
Collectively, a person’s cognitive skills, abilities,
and attitudes represent the person’s self-system
The most critical elements influencing the selfsystem are our beliefs in self-efficacy
The degree to which we are subjectively convinced of
our own capabilities and effectiveness in meeting the
demands of a particular situation
Developing self-efficacy begins in childhood, but it
continues as a lifelong process, with each stage of
the lifespan presenting new challenges
Self-Efficacy
Belief
you will do
well
Greater
effort &
persistence
Success
Self-Efficacy
Belief
you will do
poorly
Less
effort &
persistence
Failure
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
Evaluating the social cognitive perspective on
personality
A key strength of the social cognitive perspective on
personality is its grounding in empirical, laboratory research
It is built on research in learning, cognitive psychology, and
social psychology
Rather than on clinical impressions
Some psychologists feel the approach applies best to laboratory
research
The social cognitive perspective has been criticized for its
limited view of personality
Clinical data, rather than laboratory data, may be more
reflective of human personality
It ignores unconscious influences, emotions, or conflicts
The Social Cognitive
Perspective on Personality
Evaluating the social cognitive perspective on
personality
By emphasizing the self-regulation of behavior, the
social cognitive perspective places most of the
responsibility for our behavior on ourselves
And for the consequences we experience due to our
behavior
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
In contrast to the psychoanalytic, humanistic, and
social cognitive theories, which emphasize the
similarities among people, the trait approach to
personality focuses primarily on describing individual
differences
Trait theorists view the person as a unique combination of
personality characteristics or attributes, called traits
A relatively stable, enduring predisposition to behave in a
certain way
Trait theory is a theory of personality that focuses on
identifying, describing, and measuring individual differences
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Surface traits and source traits
Surface traits – traits that lie on the surface and
can be easily inferred from observable behavior
Source traits – thought to be the most basic
dimension of personality;
A source trait can potentially give rise to a vast number
of surface traits
There are relatively few source traits, and these few
represent a universal way of describing individual
personality differences
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Two Trait Theories: Cattell and Eysenck
Cattell used a statistical technique called
factor analysis to identify traits that were
most closely related to one another
Eventually reducing his list to 16 key
personality factors
He developed the widely used self-report personality
test, the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16
PF)
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Two Trait Theories: Cattell and Eysenck
British psychologist Eysenck developed a trait
theory of personality that identifies three basic
dimensions of personality
The first dimension in introversion-extroversion, which is
the degree to which a person directs his or her energies
outward toward the environment and other people
versus inward toward his or her inner and self-focused
experiences
Introversion – quiet, solitary, reserved; avoiding new
experiences
Extroversion – outgoing and sociable, enjoying new
experiences and stimulating environments
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Eysenck’s trait theory of personality:
three basic dimensions of personality
The second major dimension is
neuroticism-emotional stability
Neuroticism – a person’s predisposition to
become emotionally upset
Stability – a person’s predisposition to be
emotionally even
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Eysenck’s trait theory of personality:
three basic dimensions of personality
The third major personality dimension,
which Eysenck identified in later research,
is called psychoticism
A person high in this trait is antisocial, cold,
hostile, and unconcerned about others
A person low in this trait is warm and caring
about others
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
The five-factor model
The consensus among many trait researchers is
that the essential building blocks of personality
can be described in terms of five basic personality
dimensions, sometimes called the “Big Five”
The five-factor model of personality represents the
structural organization of personality traits
The most commonly accepted five factors are:
extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, and openness to experience
The 5 Factor Theory
Extraversion
Outgoing
Withdrawn
Neuroticism
Stable
Unstable
The 5 Factor Theory
Agreeableness
Low
High
Conscientiousness
Undependable
Dependable
The 5 Factor Theory
Openness to Experience
Closed
Open
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
The five-factor model, continued
Research has shown that traits are remarkably
stable across time
Traits are also generally consistent across different
situations
However, situational influences may affect the expression
of personality traits
However, remember that human behavior is the
result of a complex interaction between traits and
situations
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Personality traits and genetics
Behavioral genetics – studies the effects of genes and
heredity on behavior
Using twins-reared-apart and adoption studies, behavioral
geneticists have found that certain personality traits are
substantially influenced by genetics
Especially extraversion and neuroticism
Openness to experience and conscientiousness are also
substantially influenced by genetics, although to a lesser
degree than extraversion and neuroticism
It seems that the influence of environmental factors is at
least equal to the influence of genetic factors
The Trait Perspective on
Personality
Evaluating the trait perspective on personality
Psychologists generally agree that people can be described
and compared in terms of basic personality traits
Like the other personality theories, the trait approach has
its weaknesses. Trait theories fail to:
1.
2.
3.
Truly explain human personality
Explain how or why individual differences developed
Address other important personality issues, like:
The basic motives that drive human personality
The role of unconscious mental processes
How beliefs about the self influence personality, or
How psychological change and growth occur
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Psychological test – a test that assesses a person’s
abilities, aptitudes, interests, or personality,
Based on a systematically obtained sample of behavior
A psychological test is useful insofar as it achieves two
basic goals:
1. It accurately and consistently reflects a person’s
characteristics on some dimension, and
2. It predicts a person’s future psychological functioning or
behavior
Two basic types of personality tests are projective tests
and self-report inventories
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Projective Tests
A type of personality test that involves a
person’s interpreting an ambiguous image
Used to assess unconscious motives, conflicts,
psychological defenses, and personality traits
The Rorschach Inkblot Test – a projective test using
inkblots, developed by Swiss psychiatrist Hermann
Rorschach in 1921
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) – a projective
personality test that involves creating stories about
each of a series of ambiguous scenes
The Rorschach
Subject tells what each blot looks
like and what aspect of the blot
triggered that response
The Rorschach
Responses scored on use of parts vs.
wholes, movement, content, use of
color
Criticized for lack of reliability, low
validity (inability to predict behavior)
The TAT
Consists of 19 vague or
ambiguous drawings
Person describes what is
happening in each
The TAT
A TAT-like picture:
Criticized for low reliability & for
reflecting temporary states rather
than long-term traits
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Strengths and weaknesses of projective tests
The primary strength of projective tests is that they provide
a wealth of qualitative information about an individual’s
psychological functioning
Projective tests have several drawbacks:
The testing situation or the examiner’s behavior can influence a
person’s responses
The scoring of projective tests is highly subjective, requiring
the examiner to make numerous judgments about the person’s
responses
Projective tests often fail to produce consistent results
Projective tests are poor at predicting future behavior
Despite their widespread use, hundreds of studies of projective
tests seriously question their validity and reliability
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Self-report inventories
A type of psychological test in which a person’s responses to
standardized questions are compared to established norms
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) – a
self-report inventory that assesses personality characteristics
and psychological disorders;
Used to assess both normal and disturbed populations
The California Personality Inventory (CPI) – a self-report
inventory that assesses personality characteristics in “normal”
populations
The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) – a selfreport inventory developed by Raymond Cattell that generates
a personality profile with ratings on 16 trait dimensions
The MMPI-2
The most widely-used inventory
Consists of 567 true-false
questions
MMPI-2: Clinical Scales
Hypochondriasis(Hs): Exaggerated concern
about physical health
Depression (D): Distress, depression
Hysteria (Hy): Physical symptoms w/ no
cause
Psychopathic Deviate (Pd): Disregard for
moral & social standards
Masculinity-Femininity (Mf): Having
traditional male or female traits
MMPI-2: Clinical Scales
Paranoia (Pa): Fear of others &
suspiciousness
Psychasthenia (Pt): Rigidity, tension, worry
Schizophrenia (Sc): bizarre & unusual
thinking
Hypomania (Ma): Excitability, impulsiveness
Social Introversion (S): Modesty, Shyness
MMPI-2: Validity Scales
Cannot Say (?): Evasiveness
Lying (L): Lying in order to look good
Infrequency (F): Lying in order to look bad
Correction (K): Defensiveness in filling out
the scale
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Strengths & Weaknesses of self-report inventories
The strengths include:
Standardization and the use of established norms
Reliability and validity, which, as a general rule, are greater
than those of projective tests
The weaknesses include:
Considerable evidence that despite inclusion of items designed
to detect deliberate deception,
People can still successfully fake responses and answer in
socially desirable ways
Some people are prone to responding in a set way, whether the
item accurately reflects them or not
People are not always accurate judges of their own behavior,
attitudes, or attributes
Assessing Personality:
Psychological Tests
Despite their weaknesses, personality
tests are generally useful strategies that
can provide insights about the
psychological makeup of people