Introduction to Personality Theory

1. Introduction to Personality Theory Dr. Kelley Kline FSU-Panama City

2. I. What is meant by personality?? • What do you think???

3. Personality: • The underlying causes within the person of individual behavior & experience. • A consistent pattern of behavior across the life-span.

4. Three questions in personality • 1. How can personality be described? • 2. How can we understand personality dynamics? (contextual & cultural) • 3. How does personality develop?

5. II. Describing personality • A. Differences between people: Approaches to describing individual differences: --Type approach --Trait approach --Factors approach

6. 1. Type approach • -personality appears in a limited # of distinct categories. • According to this view, a person will belong to only one category. • A small number of categories are used to describe everyone. • Are qualitative!!!

7. Types: examples • Political – “liberals” & “conservatives” • Jung– “introverts” & “extroverts” • May be useful on a simple level of analysis.

8. 2.Trait approach: • Traits are characteristics used to distinguish one individual from another (consistent over time). • We can measure how much (from low to high) a person possesses a given trait (shyness, extraversion). Are quantitative!! • There are many traits to describe a single person.

9. 3. Factor approach- • Similar to trait approach, except that factors are broader categories for describe personality than traits. • A small # of factors can be used to describe everyone.

10. B. Nomothetic vs. Idiographic • The nomothetic approach– we compare one person with another. • Groups of individuals are studied relative to others on the same concepts (traits). • Approach measures individual differences among others.

11. The idiographic approach-studies one individual at a time, without making comparisons to others. • This method focuses on an individual case.

12. Consistency of personality • One theory is that an individual’s behavior may be consistent across changing situations. • However, Mischel argued that research failed to support this assumption. • The situation may or may not play a greater role in determining behavior than personality.

13. III. Personality Dynamics • What are mechanisms by which personality is expressed? • Focuses on the motivations underlying why behavior occurs. • Includes individuals’ adaptation or adjustment to the demands of life.

14. A. Adaptation & Adjustment • How we adapt & adjust to situations & events is based on our personality.

15. B. Cognitive Processes: • Our thought processes (cognitions, beliefs) play a large role in the formation & expression of our personality. • Unconscious thoughts or beliefs have an influence on our behaviors (Zajonc’s Mere- Exposure Effect).

16. C. Culture: • When examining the concept of personality development, formation, & expression, cultural influences need to be examined.

17. IV. Personality Development: Examines the extent to which biological & environmental factors contribute to the formation of our personalities.

18. A. Biological Influences: • To some extent our personalities are determined by genetic factors. • Our temperament as children significantly predicts our behavior in adulthood. E.g., Some forms of psychopathology are heritable.

19. B. Environmental Influences: • Environmental factors (family, culture) influence our personality development. • E.g., Freud & Skinner both emphasized childhood experiences.

20. V. Theory: • A comprehensive explanation of natural phenomena that leads to accurate predictions.

21. Advantages of theories: • 1. Theories allow us to summarize the results of many research studies & integrate numerous principles of learning. 2. Theories provide starting points for conducting new research. • 3. Theories offer us a way for describing why things happen.

22. Disadvantages of Theories: • 1. No theory explains all that is known about a given phenomenon. • 2. Theories affect what new information is published, biasing the knowledge we have about personality.

23. Judging Scientific Theories • 1. Testability • 2. Simplicity • 3.Generality • 4. Fruitfullness • 5. Agreement with the data

24. Scientific concepts: • 1. Operational Definitions: • We describe a concept by defining the operations used to measure something. • (e.g., memory may be defined by the # of items recalled on a memory test).

25. 2. Theoretical Constructs: • --The concepts of a theory • Traits (intelligence, athleticism) are considered theoretical constructs. • These need to be operationally defined to be examined in research.