PSY 05 – Theories of Personality

MODULE 1: Perspectives in Theories of Personality and Personality Assessment

“Appearances make impressions, but it is the personality that makes an impact”

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MODULE OVERVIEW

The study of personality deals with the issue of human individuality. It also
contributes to different areas of human behavior. As a human being each one of us
show certain specific patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. They represent who we
are and provide the basis for our interaction with other individuals. Module 1 provide an
understanding on the concepts, objectives and values of personality theories. Also
exploring various personality assessment tools to assess people’s personality.
Learning Outcomes:

 Describe the concept of Personality.

 Explain the concepts, objectives and values of Personality Theories as well as
essential components and philosophical issues related to personality development.
 Discuss various forms of personality assessments and research methods.
 Discuss various components for a concept of humanity.

A. What is Personality?

* Comes from the Latin word per sonare ( to sound through). The word persona
(actor’s mask) comes from these words which mean to describe the actor’s mask.
through which the sound of one’s voice was projected.

* A relatively permanent and enduring thoughts, feelings, and behavior that uniquely
characterizes a person.

* Salient definitions of personality (Hall, Lindzey, & Campbell, 1998)

1. Biosocial and Biophysical Definition

Biosocial – individuals possess no personality but that only provided by the

response of others.

Biophysical – ascribes to organicity and links to specific qualities of the individual

that are susceptible to objective description and measurement.

2. Ragbag or Omnibus Definition

Embracing personality by enumeration of aspects such as mental, physical,

social, emotional and moral/spiritual dimensions.

3. Integrative or Organizational Functions

Personality is the organization or pattern that is given to the various discrete

responses of the individuals.
 4. Adjustment of the Individual.

5. Unique or Individuals Aspects of Behavior

6. Essence of Human Condition

7. Personality Definitions from the “experts”

Freud- Personality is the integration of the id, ego, and superego.

Adler – Personality is the individual’s style of life or characteristic manner of

responding to life’s problems, including life goals.

Allport – Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those

psychophysical systems that determine his/her unique adjustments to the
environment.

Cattell – Personality is the sum total of actual and potential behavior patterns
determined by heredity and environment. It is that which permits a prediction of what a
person will do in a given situation; an imaginary construct that permits us to explain
and predict behavior.

Guilford – Personality is a person’s unique pattern of traits.

Dennis Coon – Personality is an individual’s unique and psychological

characteristics and the dynamic relationships among them.

Pervin – Personality represents those characteristics of the person that generally

account for consistent pattern of behavior.

B. What is a Theory?

* Theory is derived from the Greek word “theoria” which means viewing , contemplating
or thinking about something.

* According to Pervin (1989), “Theory is a set of assumptions and concepts that tie
together various empirical findings and suggests new relationships among them that
should obtain under certain defined conditions. It involves systematic ordering of ideas
and planned approaches to research.

* A scientific theory is a set of related assumptions that allows scientists to use logical
deductive reasoning to formulate testable hypothesis (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013).

C. Personality Theories

*Lewis Aiken: personality theories are conceptions of human experiences and

behavior that employ a set of psychological constructs in attempting to explain, predict
and control actions of people.

* A Personality Theory is particularly concerned with individual differences in both

socially acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. It also attempts to account for
similarities among the thought and action processes of people.

* Lawrence Pervin: Personality Theories are attempts to discover, explain and

understand the regularities in human behavior, and to suggest strategies for further
research. The theories try to answer these questions:
 - what individual are like?

- how they became that way?

- why they behave the way they do?

* Duane Schultz: Personality Theories are attempts to explain the nature of the human
personality.

* Barbara Engler: Personality Theories are organized systems of beliefs and studies
that help us understand human nature.

D. Components of a Personality Theory

1. Structure: The more stable, enduring aspects of the personality

2. Process/Dynamics: The motivating concepts to explain behavior.

3. Determinants: The factors or conditions that shape personality may be organismic,

environmental or situational.

4. Development: The changes in structure from infancy to maturity and the

corresponding development in process.

5. Psychopathology: The causes of abnormal behavior due to psychological causes.

6. Psychotherapy: Suggested psychotherapeutic measures by which pathological

forms of behavior can be modified/changed.

7. Nature of Man

8. Application

E. Objectives of Personality Theories

1. Explain why people behave as they do from an empirical, scientific perspective.

2. Expected to answer the what, how, and why of personality to help us explain and
understand the individual person.

F. Values and Uses of Personality Theories

Scientists use several criteria to evaluate the usefulness of a theory. A useful theory (1)

generates research, (2) is falsifiable, (3) organizes data, (4) guides action, (5) is

internally consistent, and (6) is parsimonious.

1. One of the most important functions of a theory is to generate research. A useful

theory will stimulate both descriptive research and hypothesis testing. Descriptive

research provides a framework for an evolving theory whereas hypothesis testing

expan ds our knowledge of a scientific discipline.

 2. A useful theory should be falsifiable, that is, it must generate research that can

either confirm or disconfirm its major tenets. A theory that cannot be falsified is little

more than armchair speculation.

3. A useful theory of personality must also be able to organize information; that is,

it should makes sense of what is currently known about personality. It should be able

to fit current research data into an intelligible framework and to integrate new

information into its structure. In short, a useful theory should be able to organize and

explain observations gleaned from research.

4. A useful theory should guide the actions of researchers and other practitioners.

Theories are practical tools that guide a road map for making day-to-day decisions.

Parents, teachers, businesspeople, counselors, and therapist must make daily

decisions about issues for which no ready-made set of answers exist. Theories may

provide some answers.

5. A useful theory is internally consistent and includes operational definitions

that define concepts in terms of specific operations to be carried out by the observer.

That is, an operational definition defines units in terms of observable events or

behaviors that can be measured.

6. When two theories are equal on the first five criteria, then the more parsimonious,

or simpler one is preferred.

G. Assessment of Personality

 The gathering, collection and evaluation of information about the individual

person in order to know and understand him/her as a person and as objectively
as can be.
1. Uses of Personality Assessments
a. In Clinical Psychology – Normal vs. Abnormal
To determine appropriate treatment
b. In Education: Teaching/Learning
Individual Differences
c. In Industrial Psychology; For selection, training, and development of
personnel most suited for a job.
d. In Counseling: To assist individuals to know themselves for adjustment,
self-direction, and self-realization.

2. Different Assessment Techniques

a. Observation – casual and informal vs. systematic/formal
b. Interview – subject is asked questions and answers are recorded and
 evaluated.
c. Case History/Study – in depth and detailed study of past and present data of
an individual taken from a variety of source.
d. Experimental – to demonstrate cause and effect by using control and
experimental groups with designated dependent and independent variables.
e. Psychological testing – will depend on what you want to know about the
person
- 1. Self-reporting tests/questions (Paper and pencil test)
- MMPI - Myers Briggs Type Indicator
- 16 PF - Gordon Personal Profile

2. Projective tests
- Inkblots (Rorschach)
- Pictures (TAT)

H. Erroneous Methods of Assessing Personality

1. First Impression
- A first impression gives some people a clue to the pattern of the observed
individual
- Later observations and further interaction with the individual may reinforce or
contradict a first impression.
- First impression may be based on physical appearance, facial features or
expressions, mannerisms, style of dressing, name, nationality, race, what a
person says and how he says it, what he does and how he does it, or some
other physical or psychological characteristic
2. Pseudo-scientific Methods
a. Physiognomy
- Judging personality through the measurement and study of a person’s
physical features, most especially facial features.
- Physical features are closely related with personality traits
Ex. Color of hair, size and shape of the chin
b. Phrenology
- Judged by the size and shape of the skull
- Elaborate techniques and tools are used to measure the skull, these
measurement are then translated into personality characteristics
corresponding to them.
c. Graphology
- Uses a person’s handwriting to know his personality.

I. Dimensions for a Concept of Personality

1. Determinism vs. Free Choice – are people’s behavior determined by forces over
which they have no control, or can people choose to be who they wish to be?
2. Pessimism vs. Optimism- are people doomed to live a miserable, conflicted, and
troubled lives, or can they change and grow into psychologically healthy, happy, fully
functioning human beings?
3. Causality vs. Teleology – do people act as they do because of what has
happened to them in the past, or do they act as they do because they have certain
expectation of what will happen in the future?
4. Conscious vs. Unconscious Determinants of Behavior – are people ordinarily
aware of what they are doing and why they are doing it, or do unconscious forces
impinge on them and drive them to act without awareness of these underlying forces?
5. Biological vs. Social Influences on Personality – are people mostly creatures of
biology, or are their personalities shaped largely by their social relationships?
 6. Uniqueness vs. Similarities - should the study of personality concentrate on traits
that make people alike, or should it look at traits that make people different?

References:

Feist, Feist & Roberts, Theories of Personality 9th edition. 2018

Aiken, Lewis. Assessment of Personality

Pervin, Lawrence A. Personality: Theory and Research

Masanda, Argel B. RPm Comprehensive Reviewer, Vo. 1

A. Check your Knowledge

1. Theories are built primarily on

A. scientific observations.
B. philosophical speculation.
C. unique definitions of terms.
D. sociological models.

2. An educated guess that can be scientifically tested is a definition of

A. Theory C. Philosophy
B. Hypothesis D. Taxonomy

3. The ultimate value of any theory depends on its

A. Usefulness C. Reliability
B. Truthfulness D. Simplicity

4. A useful theory should be parsimonious, meaning that it should be

A. Based on empirical research C. Simple
B. Complex D. Verifiable

5. A reliable test
A. Is always valid C. Correlates positively with its validity
B. Measures what it purports to measure D. Yields consistent results

B. Application

1. Assign students to :
a. take an online personality test.
b. research your “dream job” on O*Net, and
c. list the personality of most people employed in that job. See Materials below.

2. Based on the results of the personality test and the job characteristics, write an
analysis of your “fit” with the job.

3. Answer the following questions:

a. Were the results of the personality test an accurate description of you?
 b. Was there a match between your personality traits and the dream job?
c. How would you react if you were told you could not pursue your dream because
of the results of the personality test?
d. How should personality tests be used?
e. Should a single test determine a person's future?
f. What does the APA Ethics Code have to say about personality testing?

Materials:

1. APA Ethics Code

2. Careerpath. (2010). Free career tests, personality assessments, job advice, &
resources. Retrieved from http://www.careerpath.com/
3. National Center for O*NET Development. (n.d.). O*net online. Retrieved from
http://www.onetonline.org/
4. The About Group. (2012). General personality tests. Retrieved from
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/personalitytest1/General_Personality_and_IQ_Te sts.htm