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PERSONALITY
Theoretical Perspectives of Personality
Humanism
• Focused on positive aspects of personality. Looked at
development and growth of personality.
• Natural motivation for improvement and positive growth
.
• Centered around how individuals view themselves.
• Environment and negative experiences contribute to
developing negative personality traits.
Gordon Allport
• Central traits-basis of personality.
General demeanor such as
sad, happy, moody.
• Secondary traits-preferences and attitudes
• Cardinal traits-traits that defined a person’s entire
life. Only found rarely. Can be good or bad.
Traits such as greed, power, sadism, compassion,
charity.
Abraham Maslow
• Defined what it actually means to
be mentally healthy. Looked at high
achievers and famous historical figures.
• Developed hierarchy of needs.
• Top level is self-actualizing: healthy individuals who have
met basic needs and are free to be creative and fulfill their
potentialities.
• Maladjustment occurs when certain needs are not met or
skipped over in favor of others.
Hierarchy of Needs
Carl Rogers
• Similar to Maslow developed
concept of fully functioning individual.
• Healthy individual’s Identity and environment match up.
• Incongruence occurs when negative experiences that
don’t fit an individual’s self-concept occur.
• Perceptions and feelings make up reality. This is called
the phenomenal field. Experiences are all a matter of
interpretation.
• Unconditional positive regard-love without conditions
attached.
• Rogers contributed heavily to fields of psychotherapy and
education. Basic tenets of acceptance and shifting the
focus to be on the student/client rather than the
therapist/teacher.
• Spawned Positive psychology movement which
researches happiness and the conditions in which people
function most effectively.
Social Cognitive Theory
• Albert Bandura
• Observational learning applied to
personality.
Personality changes through reciprocal
determinism, the interaction of
environment, cognitions, and behavior.
Julian Rotter
• Locus of Control- individual’s sense
of where his or her life influences originate.
• Internal vs. External attribution
How do you define your own personality?
• Write down 5 words that best describe you.
• Compare your words with the person sitting next to you
• What words are unique? What words frequently appear?
What does that say about our culture?
Individual and Cultural construction of
Personality
• Implicit Personality Theory-Assumptions about personality
that are held by people to simplify the task of
understanding others.
• “Birds of a feather flock together”
• “Opposites Attract”
• Making assumptions.
Attractiveness + niceness
Physical ability + Intelligence
Creativity + Emotionality
Fundamental Attribution Error
• Tendency to attribute mistakes and flaws to an individual’s
personal qualities rather than due to situational or
environmental factors.
Collectivism vs. Individualism
• Cultural differences exist in how personality is shaped; the
degree to which individuals form their identity in relation to
groups or independently.
• Individualistic cultures place more importance on
individual decisions, competition, achievement personal
opinions and freedom of choice.
• Collectivistic cultures place more importance on group
decision making, cooperation, less desire for
achievement, and maintaining group and social harmony.
Cultural Differences in Japan
Dimensions of
Collectivism vs. Individualism
Status and respect
Romance and Love
Emotional Displays
Locus of Control
Thinking vs. Feeling
How do we measure personality?
Hans Eysenck’s theory
• Neuroticism-susceptibility to neurotic problems
• Extraversion-introversion-outgoing vs. quiet and reserved